By Dr. Omar R. Amin, M. Sc., Ph. D., D. N. M.

In observations of many (Parasitology Center, Inc. (PCI) patients over the years, we noted that many people experienced gastrointestinal symptoms but no parasites were detected from fecal samples provided. These cases were explained as possibly relating to “other pathogenic organisms, ex., pathogenic bacteria, that can cause symptoms comparable to those produced by typical parasites.”

In our cross-sectional study of 5,792 fecal specimens from 2,896 patients in 48 states and the District of Columbia, 32% were found positive for protozoan and helminth parasites during the year 2000. This prevalence rate was consistent in a number of subsequent PCI studies. The most common parasites, in order of prevalence, were Blastocystis hominis, Cryptosporidium parvum, and Entamoeba spp.

A sizable proportion of patients without infections, nevertheless, exhibited gastrointestinal symptoms, including but not limited to, diarrhea, constipation and abdominal cramps, similar to those observed in patients infected with parasites. Those patients were unaccounted for in terms of causation. We later verified the original assumption of involvement of other infections, documented the identity of bacterial agents involved in the gastrointestinal symptomology in patients proven to have had no intestinal parasites, and provided the results of sensitivity and resistance tests for treatment purposes.

The gastrointestinal symptoms in those parasite free patients can now be explained by the pathogenic bacteria documented for each case, including but not limited to, E. coli, Klebsiella spp. Proteus spp., Enterobacter spp. Serratia spp., Citrobacter spp., and H. pylori, among others. Other studies show that IBS associated with abdominal pain, bloating and diarrhea is caused by pathogenic intestinal bacteria. Associated skin manifestations may show infections with various species of Staphylococcus, among other cutaneous bacterial infections.

Dr Amin’s latest article on bacteriology and bacterial pathogens, published in the Journal of Bacteriology and Parasitology can be read here.

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Dr Amin will be discussing bacteriology and bacterial pathogens in more detail at the Understanding Parasites seminar series, hosted exclusively by PCI Europe and Integrative Health Education.

Understanding Parasites
4th – 5th July 2015
Honourable Artillery Company, London
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