|
| | |
Blastocystosis
Blastocystosis Infection with Blastocystis hominis, a common microscopic parasite found worldwide. Symptoms may include watery or loose stools, diarrhea, abdominal pain, anal itching, weight loss, and excess gas. Some people have no symptoms. The organism can remain in the intestines for weeks, months, or years. Diagnosis requires finding it in the stool, How Blastocystis is transmitted is unknown, although the number of people infected seems to increase in areas where sanitation and personal hygiene is inadequate. Treatment is with the antibiotics metronidazole or iodoquinol.
RELATED TERMS--------------------------------------
Infection
Anything that invades the body and reproduces. Infections can be bacteria, protozoa, fungi, or viruses. Bacteria and fungi are one celled creatures that cause many infections including strep throat, bladder infections, and some lung infections. Fungi cause “athlete’s foot” and thrush, an infection in the mouth. Protozoa are small organisms with many cells that can cause infections in the guts or in the lungs. Most healthy people do not get protozoal infections, but people with suppressed immune systems can. Viruses are not really organisms; they are tiny particles that can live only inside another cell. They reproduce by taking over a cell and causing that cell to make more virus particles, rather than doing what the cell is supposed to do. Viruses cause most colds and flu cases.
Parasite
An organism that lives on or in the tissues of another organism and draws its nourishment from the host.
Diarrhea
Passage of excessively liquid or excessively frequent stools.
Abdominal
Relating to the abdomen, the belly, that part of the body that contains all of the structures between the chest and the pelvis. The abdomen is separated anatomically from the chest by the diaphragm, the powerful muscle spanning the body cavity below the lungs. The abdomen includes a host of organs including the stomach, small intestine, colon, rectum, liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, appendix, gallbladder, and bladder. The word "abdomen" has a curious story behind it. It comes from the Latin "abdodere", to hide. The idea was that whatever was eaten was hidden in the abdomen.
Pain
An unpleasant sensory or emotional experience primarily associated with tissue damage, or described in terms of tissue damage, or both.
Gas
Air that comes from normal breakdown of food which is passed out of the body through the rectum (flatus) or the mouth (burp).
Organism
A living thing, such as an animal, a plant, a bacterium, or a fungus.
Intestines
See large intestine and small intestine. Also called gut.
Diagnosis
The determination of the presence of a specific disease or infection, usually accomplished by evaluating clinical symptoms and laboratory tests.
Stool
The solid wastes that pass through the rectum as bowel movements. Stools are undigested foods, bacteria, mucus, and dead cells. Also called feces.
Hygiene
The science of health and its maintenance.
Metronidazole
Metronidazole is a prescription or over-the-counter drug which is (or once was) approved in the United States and possibly in other countries. Active ingredient(s): metronidazole.
SIMILAR TERMS--------------------------------------
BLAST
Abbreviation for Basic Local Alignment Search Tool, a computer program that identifies homologous genes in different organisms (such as worms, the fruit fly, mice, and humans). Homologous genes are genes in different species that share similar structures and functions.
Blast phase
Refers to advanced chronic myelogenous leukemia. In this phase, the number of immature, abnormal white blood cells in the bone marrow and blood is extremely high. Also called blast crisis.
Blastocoel
The fluid-filled cavity within the blastula.
Blastocyst
The developmental stage of the fertilized ovum by the time it is ready to implant; formed from the morula and consists of an inner cell mass, an internal cavity, and an outer layer of cells (the trophoblast).
Blastocyst cavity
The fluid-filled cavity within the blastocyst, sometimes referred to as the blastocoel.
Blastocystis hominis
The parasitic organism that causes blastocystosis. See Blastocystosis.
Blastocystis infection
See: Blastocystosis.
Blastokinin
See: Uteroglobin.
Blastoma
"A tumor thought to arise in embryonic tissue. The term ""blastoma"" is commonly used as part of the name for a tumor as, for examples, in glioblastoma and medulloblastoma (types of brain tumors), hepatoblastoma (a liver tumor), nephroblastoma ( Wilms tumor of the kidney), neuroblastoma (a childhood tumor of neural origin), osteoblastoma (a bone tumor) and retinoblastoma (a tumor of the retina)."
Blastomere
A cell from a morula-stage embryo.
Blastomyces dermatitidis
The fungus that causes a disease called blastomycosis.
Blastomycosis
Infection with a fungus called Blastomyces dermatitidis. The infection causes symptoms in about 50% of cases. It usually presents as a flu-like illness with fever, chills, productive cough, myalgia, arthralgia and pleuritic chest pain. Some patients fail to recover and develop chronic pulmonary infection or widespread disseminated infection (affecting the skin, bones, and genitourinary tract). It occasionally affects the meninges which cover the brain and spinal cord.
Blasts
"Immature blood cells. Leukemic blasts do not grow and age normally; they proliferate wildly and fail to mature."
Blastula
Term (often used in lower vertebrates) to describe an early stage in the development of an embryo consisting of a hollow sphere of cells enclosing a fluid-filled cavity called the blastocoel. The term blastula sometimes is used interchangeably with blastocyst.
PREVIOUS AND NEXT TERMS--------------------------------------
Blalock-Taussig operation
A pioneering heart operation named after the American surgeon Alfred Blalock (1899-1964) and the pediatric cardiologist Helen B. Taussig (1898-1986).
BLAST
Abbreviation for Basic Local Alignment Search Tool, a computer program that identifies homologous genes in different organisms (such as worms, the fruit fly, mice, and humans). Homologous genes are genes in different species that share similar structures and functions.
Blast phase
Refers to advanced chronic myelogenous leukemia. In this phase, the number of immature, abnormal white blood cells in the bone marrow and blood is extremely high. Also called blast crisis.
Blastocystis hominis
The parasitic organism that causes blastocystosis. See Blastocystosis.
Blastocystis infection
See: Blastocystosis.
Blastocystosis
Blastokinin
See: Uteroglobin.
Blastoma
"A tumor thought to arise in embryonic tissue. The term ""blastoma"" is commonly used as part of the name for a tumor as, for examples, in glioblastoma and medulloblastoma (types of brain tumors), hepatoblastoma (a liver tumor), nephroblastoma ( Wilms tumor of the kidney), neuroblastoma (a childhood tumor of neural origin), osteoblastoma (a bone tumor) and retinoblastoma (a tumor of the retina)."
Blastomyces dermatitidis
The fungus that causes a disease called blastomycosis.
Blastomycosis
Infection with a fungus called Blastomyces dermatitidis. The infection causes symptoms in about 50% of cases. It usually presents as a flu-like illness with fever, chills, productive cough, myalgia, arthralgia and pleuritic chest pain. Some patients fail to recover and develop chronic pulmonary infection or widespread disseminated infection (affecting the skin, bones, and genitourinary tract). It occasionally affects the meninges which cover the brain and spinal cord.
Blasts
"Immature blood cells. Leukemic blasts do not grow and age normally; they proliferate wildly and fail to mature."
We thank you for using the Health Dictionary to search for Blastocystosis. If you have a better definition for Blastocystosis than the one presented here, please let us know by making use of the suggest a term option. This definition of Blastocystosis may be disputed by other professionals. Our attempt is to provide easy definitions on Blastocystosis and any other medical topic for the public at large.This dictionary contains 25007 terms. |
|
|
