- Balantidium
- A genus of ciliates (family Balantidiidae) found in the digestive tract of vertebrates and invertebrates. [G. balantidion, dim of ballantion, a bag]- B. coli a very large parasitic ciliate species, usually 50–80 μm in length, reaching up to 200 μm in pigs, found in the cecum or large intestine, swimming actively in the lumen; usually harmless in humans but may invade and ulcerate the intestinal wall, producing a colitis resembling amebic dysentery.- B. suis a species originally considered distinct from the ciliate parasite of man, B. coli, but now considered synonymous with it; nonpathogenic in swine.
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bal·an·tid·i·um .bal-ən-'tid-ē-əm n1) cap a genus of large parasitic ciliate protozoans (order Heterotricha) including one (B. coli) that infests the intestines of some mammals and esp. swine and may cause a chronic ulcerative dysentery in humans* * *
n.a genus of one of the largest parasitic protozoan affecting humans (70 µm or more in length). The oval body is covered with threadlike cilia (for locomotion). B. coli, normally living in the gut of pigs as a harmless commensal, occasionally infects humans (see balantidiasis).* * *
Bal·an·tid·i·um (bal″an-tidґe-əm) [Gr. balantidion little bag] a genus of ciliate protozoa of the order Trichostomatida, including many species found in the intestines of animals.
Medical dictionary. 2011.
