Observations on the coprophilic habits of a ciliate Balantiophorus minutus Schewiakoff

Abstract

B. minutus flourishes in normal moist feces but cannot exist in feces from diseased patients because of an inability to withstand the contained urine, the high osmotic pressure, or the drugs so frequently characteristic of stools from such individuals. The cysts of B. minutus can not pass through the intestine unharmed. Their presence in feces is, therefore, always a sign of contamination. B. minutus is closely related to the soil-living and the sewage-living bacteria and can never be classed as parasitic.