Studies Of Prevalence and Subtypes Of Blastocystis Species In Lagos Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The Genus Blastocystis was first described from the faecal contents of animals by Alexieff

in 1911 and named Blastocystis enterocola, cyst of a flagellate and upon its isolation from

the faeces of humans the following year by Brumpt; it was re-named Blastocystis hominis

but classified as yeast and non- pathogenic in humans (Tan et al., 2002). As a result of the

ensuing confusion of unsettled taxonomy, Blastocystis spp. was not included in any of the

systematic classifications of the parasitic protist (Stenzel and Boreham, 1996). However,

Silberman et al., (1996) analyzed the conserved SSUrRNA gene of the parasite in

comparison to other eukaryotes to phylogenetically place Blastocystis in the informal group

Stramenopiles or Heterokont.

This single- celled eukaryote has been detected in faecal materials from various wild and

domesticated animals, birds, fishes and recently cockroaches (Abe et al., 2002; Yoshikawa

et al., 2007, 2009; Jones et al., 2009). Blastocystis is ubiquitous with a global distribution

(Windsor and Macfalane, 2005; Malheiros et al., 2011).