1.An Unusual Case of Extra-Enteric Blastocystosis in the Uterine Cervix
Yolanda ESCUTIA-GUZMAN ; Williams Arony MARTINEZ-FLORES ; Joel MARTINEZ-OCAÑA ; Ramon MARTINEZ-PIMENTEL ; Marisol BENITEZ-RAMIREZ ; Fernando MARTINEZ-HERNANDEZ ; Sara ARROYO-ESCALANTE ; Mirza ROMERO-VALDOVINOS ; Guadalupe Erendira OROZCO-MOSQUEDA ; Pablo MARAVILLA
The Korean Journal of Parasitology 2020;58(5):571-576
Extra-enteric infections by Blastocystis spp. have rarely been documented. Here, we report a case of extra-enteric blastocystosis in a patient with minimal cervicitis symptoms. A 47-year-old Hispanic female patient was attended in a primary health centre in Michoacan state, Mexico, for her routine gynaecological medical examination. As only symptom, she referred to a slight vaginal itching. The presence of several vacuolar-stages of Blastocystis spp. were identified by Papanicolaou staining; molecular identification was attempted by culture-PCR sequencing of a region of 18S gene from cervical and faecal samples obtained 2 months after cytological examination, even when patient declared that she tried self-medicating with vaginal ovules. Blastocystis ST1 was identified only in the faecal sample. The presence of Blastocystis spp. in the cervix of a patient with scarce symptomatology, demonstrates the extraordinary flexibility of this microorganism to adapt to new environments and niches.