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Blastocystis Research Foundation
  To find us, just Google 'Blastocystis'........without the hominis

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Blastocystis 'hominis'  News

 March 25, 2011: Research publish complete genome sequence of Blastocystis

March 23, 2011: Culinary herbs common in Southeast Asian cooking inhibit growth of Blastocystis in-vitro

February 12, 2011: Diagnostic methods commonly used in laboratories fail to identify most Blastocystis infections

January 17, 2011: US FDA researchers report on new assay for Blastocystis
 
November 18, 2010: BRF co-authors study on detection of Blastocystis in samples from patients with inflammatory bowel disease and IBS

March 4, 2010:  Rats infected with Blastocystis exhibit high levels of oxidative stress in a new paper from Parasitology Research

February 10, 2010: Are any of the antiprotozoal drugs really eradicating Blastocystis 'hominis' infection in patients?  A recent review: "Eradication of Blastocystis carriage with antimicrobials: reality or delusion?" says they may not be working.

February 9, 2010: Patients with ulcerative colitis are more likely to experience a relapse in illness if they are infected with Blastocystis and other protozoa

January 15, 2010: BRF co-authors the world's first report on subtyping of Blastocystis 'hominis' isolates from Egypt

Older News

NOTE: The correct term is now Blastocystis not Blastocystis 'hominis' as there is no Blastocystis unique to humans.

BRF Publications

Click here to view summaries of all of BRF's papers on the NIH's Pubmed Database

Papers/Letters in Peer Reviewed Medical Journals

1. Whipps CM, Boorom K, Bermudez LE, Kent ML. Molecular characterization of Blastocystis species in Oregon identifies multiple subtypes. Parasitol Res. 2010 Mar;106(4):827-32. Epub 2010 Feb 2.PMID: 20127113

2. Souppart L, Moussa H, Cian A, Sanciu G, Poirier P, El Alaoui H, Delbac F, Boorom K, Delhaes L, Dei-Cas E, Viscogliosi E. Subtype analysis of Blastocystis isolates from symptomatic patients in Egypt. Parasitol Res. 2010 Jan;106(2):505-11. Epub 2009 Dec 2.PMID: 19953268

3. Dogruman-Al F, Kustimur S, Yoshikawa H, Tuncer C, Simsek Z, Tanyuksel M, Araz E, Boorom K. Blastocystis subtypes in irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease in Ankara, Turkey. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2009 Aug;104(5):724-7.PMID: 19820833

4. Boorom K. Emerging infectious diseases are not always obvious. Lancet Infect Dis. 2009 Mar;9(3):142. PMID: 19246017

5. Souppart L, Sanciu G, Cian A, Wawrzyniak I, Delbac F, Capron M, Dei-Cas E, Boorom K, Delhaes L, Viscogliosi E. Molecular epidemiology of human Blastocystis isolates in France. Parasitol Res. 2009 Aug;105(2):413-21. Epub 2009 Mar 17.PMID: 19290540

6. Boorom KF, Smith H, Nimri L, Viscogliosi E, Spanakos G, Parkar U, Li LH, Zhou XN, Ok UZ, Leelayoova S, Jones MS Oh my aching gut: irritable bowel syndrome, Blastocystis, and asymptomatic infection. Parasit Vectors. 2008 Oct 21;1(1):40.PMID: 18937874

7. Jones MS, Whipps CM, Ganac RD, Hudson NR, Boorom K. Association of Blastocystis subtype 3 and 1 with patients from an Oregon community presenting with chronic gastrointestinal illness. Parasitol Res. 2009 Jan;104(2):341-5. Epub 2008 Oct 16. Erratum in: Parasitol Res. 2009 Jan;104(2):491. Boroom, Kenneth [corrected to Boorom, Kenneth]. PMID: 18923844

8. Boorom KF. Is this recently characterized gastrointestinal pathogen responsible for rising rates of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and IBD associated autism in Europe and the United States in the 1990s? Med Hypotheses. 2007;69(3):652-9. Epub 2007 Mar 26.PMID: 17382484

 

The Oregon Study
Published October 2008

Click here to read the abstract on the NIH's Pubmed database

WHO WORKED ON IT:

  • United States Air Force (an infectious disease lab at Travis Air Force Base)

  • Oregon State University

 Jones M, Whipps C, Ganac R, Hudson N, Boorom K.  Association of Blastocystis 'hominis' subtype 3 and 1 with patients from an Oregon community presenting with chronic gastrointestinal illness. Parasitol Res. Epub 2008 Oct 16. 

WHAT IT IS ABOUT: In this study we used the DNA same techniques crime labs use to match criminals to evidence - Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing.   Instead of identifying a person, we used this method to identify an infectious disease in a group of Corvallis, Oregon residents.  The technique identifies infectious diseases by the DNA that controls the organism.  We used this to find that many people had Blastocystis 'hominis' infection even though they had tested negative for infectious diseases at laboratories in Corvallis and elsewhere.

All of the study participants had developed chronic gastrointestinal illness in the last 10 years.  Almost none of them had been properly diagnosed.  None of them had responded to treatment.

 All of them with whom we have maintained contact are still sick today (September 2009).

Some other important findings from this study:

  • People with chronic Blastocystis 'hominis' infection had diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, skin rashes, and joint pain. 

  • These symptoms occurred in civilians and veterans infected with Blastocystis 'hominis'.  Previously, researchers had indicated that veterans from the Gulf War had a different disease (Gulf War Illness).  This research suggests that it is the same disease seen in civilians.

  • Individuals with chronic Blastocystis 'hominis' infection in Oregon had been diagnosed as having 'food allergies' or irritable bowel syndrome. 

  • In one case, four members of the same household were all sick, all on well water, and all diagnosed with 'food allergies'.

  • Families with the disease are most transmitting the disease within the family.  We found this by using 'genetic fingerprinting' which showed the Blastocystis 'hominis' isolates within families were all exactly the same, even though one family had a member born after they became symptomatic.


The Lancet Article

Read entry on NIH's Pubmed Database (not too much information here)

Read part of the full text from Lancet's web site

Boorom K. Emerging infectious diseases are not always obvious. Lancet Infect Dis. 2009 Mar;9(3):142.

This is a short entry in Lancet Infectious Diseases concerning how physicians can have difficulty properly associating an infectious disease with gastrointestinal illness.

The French Study
Published March 2009

Click here to read the abstract on the NIH's database

WHO WORKED ON IT: The Pasteur Institute in France.  This was the institution that won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2008 for discovering the HIV virus.

Souppart L, Sanciu G, Cian A, Wawrzyniak I, Delbac F, Capron M, Dei-Cas E, Boorom K, Delhaes L, Viscogliosi E.  Molecular epidemiology of human Blastocystis 'hominis' isolates in France. Parasitol Res. 2009 Mar 17. 

WHAT IT IS ABOUT: Just as there are different types of flu, there are different kinds of Blastocystis 'hominis'.  Most human infections belong to one of four different Blastocystis 'hominis' species, which are numbered (subtype 1, 2, 3, 4). 

One question has been, "Does the severity of symptoms vary with the subtype?"  In this study (and other studies performed in the last year or so), we found that all of the subtypes produce illness in humans. 

We also found that PCR testing, although it is better than the lab tests used commercially, can miss about a quarter of the samples.  (Because of this, BRF is working to introduce a more reliable diagnostic based on a different mechanism).

The International Study
Published October 2008

Click here to read the abstract

Click here to read the full text

NOTE: BRF organized this study, and BRF's Vice President of Research, Ken Boorom, was the principal author.

AFFILIATIONS OF SCIENTISTS WHO WORKED ON IT:

  • US Center for Disease Control (on loan from Jordan)

  • United States Air Force / Travis AFB

  • China's Center for Disease Control

  • The Pasteur Institute

  • A World Health Organization (WHO) Coordinating Center for the Molecular Epidemiology of Parasitological Infections

  • The Scottish Parasitological Institute

  • National infectious disease research groups in Greece and Thailand
     

Boorom KF, Smith H, Nimri L, Viscogliosi E, Spanakos G, Parkar U, Li LH, Zhou XN, Ok UZ, Leelayoova S, Jones MS.  Oh my aching gut: irritable bowel syndrome, Blastocystis 'hominis', and asymptomatic infection. BMC Parasites and Vectors. 2008 Oct 21;1(1):40.  

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: This was a survey of all studies published on Blastocystis 'hominis'.  We found that, based on what is reported in medical literature, the diagnostics and treatments used for Blastocystis 'hominis' infection are ineffective.  Additionally, the disease can be chronic and can become serious in some patients who would be healthy otherwise.  Patients are diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by physicians.

The Turkish Study
Scheduled to be published September 2009

Dogruman-Al F, Kustimur1 S, Yoshikawa H, Tuncer C, Simsek Z, Tanyuksel M, Araz E, Boorom K.  Blastocystis 'hominis' subtypes in irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease in Ankara, Turkey.    Memorias Instituto Oswaldo Cruz  In Press 

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: In this study, researchers examined the types of Blastocystis 'hominis' found in patients with irritable bowel syndrome, and a more serious disease, inflammatory bowel disease.

  

Other Articles

  1. Boorom, KF.  A Magic Bullet for IBS.  Gut Reaction, Spring 2008. 

  2. Boorom, KF.  Getting to the bottom of irritable bowels.  The New Scientist, April 13, 2008. Read part of the full text