Submitted in partial fulfillment for the subject, Nutrition and Diet Therapy Laboratory UCP - College of Nursing - BSN2-A

1. Ciliates
Definition, Disease, Transmission
and Food Treatment
Presented by:
Grou
p
Balod, Patrice Donna Ann
Delgado, Anthony Gabrielle
Leonor, Chris Daniel
Merillo, Josephine Mei
Reyes, Hans Allen

2. What Are Ciliates?
• a single-celled animal of a phylum distinguished by
the possession of cilia or ciliary structures: hair-like
organelles and is identical in structure to eukaryotic
flagella, but are in general shorter and present in
much larger numbers, with a different undulating
pattern than flagella.
• a large and diverse group of advanced protozoans.
• They are important to the ecosystem and serve as
predators to bacterias and protozoans, thus providing
nutrition to higher beings such as fish larvae and
copepods (small crustaceans)

3. • characterized as organisms propelled
by rows of cilia and possessing two
types of nuclei: a large macronucleus
involved in vegetative functions of the
organism, and a small micronucleus
involved in sexuality.
Characteristics of a
Ciliate

4. Diseases Affiliated with
Ciliates
• Balantidium coli is the only type of ciliate that
affects humans. It lives commensally or
parasitically in the digestive tract and can
cause diarrhea and ulcers in the intestines.
• They usually take in hosts that are
coelenterates (jellyfish and anemones) to
crustaceans and various mammals, especially
pigs. Humans are also considered as hosts.
Balantidiasis

5. The Gastrointestinal
Tract
• The organs that food and liquids travel through
when they are swallowed, digested, absorbed,
and leave the body as feces.

6. The Normal Functions of
the Large Intestine
• The purpose of the large intestine is to absorb
water and salts from the material that has not
been digested as food, and get rid of any waste
products left over. By the time food mixed with
digestive juices reaches your large intestine,
most digestion and absorption has already
taken place.
• Partly digested food moves through the cecum
into the colon, where water and some nutrients
and electrolytes are removed.

7. The Abnormal Functions
of the Infested Large
Intestine
• Abnormal function from the human
organ by this disease called
Balantidiasis caused by Balantidium
Coli is the LARGE INTESTINE, it invades
the wall of the colon.
Pathway of the pathogen going inside the
body:

8. Following ingestion, excystation (Meaning: the
stage in the life cycle of a parasite in which it
escapes from a cyst (after being swallowed by its
host)) occurs in the small intestine, and the
trophozoites colonize the large intestine.
Remember that the small intestine has three parts:
the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum. It helps to
further digest food coming from the stomach. It
absorbs nutrients (vitamins, minerals,
carbohydrates, fats, proteins) and water from
food so they can be used by the body.
The small intestine is part of the digestive system.
And most of the unabsorbed nutrients and excess
material are carried away going to the large
intestine wherein the ciliates we are talking about
is about to invade.

9. The abnormal functions of the organ are usually manifested from clinical
presentation,
Most cases are asymptomatic. Clinical manifestations, when present, may be
acute or chronic with abdominal symptoms. Complications of associated
diarrhea or dysentery can occur in protracted infections. Symptoms may be
severe or fatal in debilitated/immunocompromised persons.
Extraintestinal infection is rare but potentially serious and typically occurs
secondary to intestinal infection.
• Diarrhea due to malabsorption (quality of the food taken inside out digestive
tract.
• Extraintestinal infection, meanwhile, bacteria living in your colon feed on the
waste and break it down further, completing the chemical part of the
digestive process that results in an individual having an infection outside of
the colon or intestines.
• Abdominal symptoms (having the two clinical manifestations of abdominal
pain is one of its effects inside our affected organ.)

10. As Infection takes place in the colons, There the ciliates form nests. The host excretes the
cysts as well as active cells with the feces.
The ciliates do not form known poisons, but the ciliate infestation can promote the formation
of ulcers in the area of the large intestine in humans.
This connection is due to the formation of hyaluronidase, which dissolves hyaluronic acid in
the connective tissue.
In particularly severe cases, symptoms such as bloody stool, permanently imperative to have
a bowel movement, and severe weight loss can occur. In extreme cases, such a severe
infestation can be fatal. This is seldom the case, however, as the ciliate infection can be
treated well with tetracyclines or metronidazole.

11. Dietary Treatment for patients with
Balantidiasis :
Food as a medicine
There is no single definition of the “food as medicine” concept, but it generally refers to
prioritizing food and diet in an individual's health plan, with the goal of either preventing,
reducing symptoms of, or reversing a disease state.
Starch Free/Low Starch Diet

12. Starch Free/Low Starch Diet
• Slows down peristalsis
(for Diarrhea)
• Promotes a fuller stomach
(Promotes satiety)
• Supplies body with Iron
(if bloody stool is observed, helps prevent excessive blood loss and induces the
production of blood)
• Replenishes body with tissue repair from damaged parts of the colon.
(due to ciliates damaging the tissue wall of the colon and leading to stomach ulcers)

13. • Non-starchy fruits (such as berries and grapefruit)
• Non-starchy vegetables (such as spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, and
peppers)
• Fish
• Tofu
• Dairy products
• Eggs
• Lean meat
What Composes a Starch Free/Low Starch Diet?

14. References:
• https://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/balantidiasis/index.html
• http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/smallgut/diarrhea.html
• https://www.webmd.com/ankylosing-spondylitis/guide/low-starch-diet-for-ankylosing-
spondylitis
• https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/213077-treatment?reg=1#d3