Taxonomy: Class Blastocystea
Animal: Blastocystis hominis (epidemiology) 7 18.jpg
Sites: Gut
Comment:
Blastocystis hominis - age distribution. B.hominis is ubiquitous world-wide and infection rates don't appear to vary significantly with seasons. Reported prevalence ranges from 2-50 percent (highest in areas of poor hygiene) but many surveys were done on symptomatic people so are not random surveys but in some studies, prevalance in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms were not different from those found in control populations. Equal numbers of males and females are infected; it appears more common in adults than children, although one study showed a peak at 10 years and then in later life unlike Cryptosporidium which is more common in children and diminishes with age, with a slight peak of infections in these children's parents.

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