Protozoan Parasite tagged posts

Researchers have discovered that the intestinal parasite Tritrichomonas muris (pictured) increases the susceptibility of its host to colitis. Credit: Escalante et al., 2016

Researchers from University of Toronto have discovered that mice infected with the common gut parasite Tritrichomonas muris are at an increased risk of developing inflammatory colitis. Their findings expand the type of gut-resident microorganism that can affect the health of their host and suggest that related parasites may cause gastrointestinal disease in humans. Though some protozoan species, which are part of the protist kingdom of life, cause diseases like malaria and leishmaniasis, the protozoa that commonly live in the gut are generally thought to be harmless.

While studying the inflammatory mechanisms underlying...