ORPHA:1223
Balantidiasis
Also known as: Balantidiosis · Ciliary dysentery
Publications
617
69.6th percentile
Trials
0
Interventional, condition-specific
Researchers
808
Distinct authors in sample
Gene link
—
Readiness
1/6
Stages with a signal
Clinical definition (Orphanet)
Balantidiasis is an infectious disease, rare in western countries. It is caused by Balantidium coli, a single celled parasite (ciliate protozoan) that is usually associated with intestinal infection in areas associated with pig rearing. It infects humans occasionally, mostly immunocompromised patients. Some infected people may have no symptoms or only mild diarrhea and abdominal discomfort but others may experience more severe symptoms reminiscent of an acute inflammation of the intestines. Symptoms of Balantidiasis may be similar to those of other infections that cause intestinal inflammation, for example, amoebic dysentery. On very rare occasions this bacterium may invade extra-intestinal organs, mostly the lungs. Metronidazole is the treatment of choice.
How rare: How common this is has not been clearly measured.
Cross-references
Joined from Mondo / Orphanet. MeSH labels may enter searches; UMLS / OMIM / NCIT are stored for reference.
- MONDO:0005662
- MeSH:D001447
- UMLS:C0004692
- NCIT:C84583
Additional Mondo synonyms (2)
balantidiosis · ciliary dysentery
Research stages
Trial readiness signals
Where this condition sits on an open-data research pipeline — not how close a treatment is, and not medical advice. Empty stages often mean “not in these databases under this Mondo ID,” not “impossible.”
1/6 stages with a signal
Research-stage checklist from open sources (GenCC, literature, Monarch when enriched, ClinicalTrials.gov). Not a prognosis or care recommendation.
- Gene identifiedNot found
No GenCC disease–gene assertion in this build
- LiteraturePresent
617 matched papers (121 in last 10 years) Source
- Phenotype characterisedNot checked
Not yet enriched from Monarch / HPO
- Animal modelNot checked
Not yet enriched from Monarch / Alliance
- Orphan designationNot checked
FDA/EMA orphan-drug designation not enriched yet
- Interventional trialNot found
No matched interventional trial under our ClinicalTrials.gov rules
Biology
Genes and phenotypes
Gene–disease validity from GenCC, plus phenotypes and animal models joined from Monarch Initiative via Mondo ID — not a clinical diagnosis aid.
Do we know what causes it?
Not yet — the cause hasn't been pinned down in GenCC.
No strong gene–disease assertion joined for this Orphanet entity.
Phenotypes (Monarch / HPO)
Not enriched in this build — Monarch phenotype joins were not run for this record.
Animal models (Monarch / Alliance)
Not enriched in this build.
Literature
Is anyone studying this?
617
617 papers have been published on this condition. That is a real research literature — still far smaller than common diseases (breast cancer: over 700,000 papers). Median papers in the last 10 years for a rare disease in this dataset (publications denominator n=5449) is 41.
617 papers since the earliest indexed year in this search — median last-10-year count for a rare disease in this dataset is 41 (publications denominator n=5449).
121 in the last 10 years · medium confidence · 69.6th percentile (publications denominator)
Phrase hits: 617 · MeSH hits: 0
Who's working on it?
808
Distinct author names in 200 sampled papers — named people below.
Who's working on it?
No interventional trial matched this name; these authors publish on it in the sampled literature — a practical starting point for contact.
- 01Ponce-Gordo F7 papers · 2025
Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Complutense University, Plaza Ramón y Cajal s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Papers in Europe PMC - 02Amendoeira MR6 papers · 2025
Laboratory of Toxoplasmosis and Other Protozooses, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, RJ, Brazil.
Papers in Europe PMC - 03Class CSC6 papers · 2026
Microbiology and Parasitology Department, Biomedical Institute, Federal Fluminense University, Professor Hernani de Mello Street, 101, São Domingos, Niterói 24210-130, RJ, Brazil.
Papers in Europe PMC - 04Dib LV6 papers · 2025
Federal Fluminense University, Biomedical Institute, Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Professor Hernani Mello Street, São Domingos, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro 24210-130, Brazil. Electronic address: lais.dib@hotmail.com.
Papers in Europe PMC - 05Wang T6 papers · 2025
Parasitology Laboratory, College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471023, China.
Papers in Europe PMC - 06Yan W6 papers · 2025
Parasitology Laboratory, College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471023, China.
Papers in Europe PMC - 07Corrêa LL5 papers · 2026
Microbiology and Parasitology Department, Biomedical Institute, Federal Fluminense University, Professor Hernani de Mello Street, 101, São Domingos, Niterói 24210-130, RJ, Brazil.
Papers in Europe PMC - 08Barbosa ADS4 papers · 2026
Microbiology and Parasitology Department, Biomedical Institute, Federal Fluminense University, Professor Hernani de Mello Street, 101, São Domingos, Niterói 24210-130, RJ, Brazil.
Papers in Europe PMC - 09Hotez PJ4 papers · 2025
National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America; Sabin Vaccine Institute and Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, Houston, Texas, United States of America; James A. Baker III Institute at Rice University, Houston, Texas, United States of America.
Papers in Europe PMC - 10Knackfuss FB4 papers · 2026
Zootecnia e Estatística, Universidade do Grande Rio, Professor José de Souza Herdy Street, 1160, Jardim Vinte e Cinco de Agosto, Duque de Caxias 25071-202, RJ, Brazil.
Papers in Europe PMC
Clinical research
Is a treatment being tested?
0
interventional trials for this specific condition
No interventional trial testing a treatment matched this specific condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov (observational studies and pan-disease registries are listed separately when present).
Data as of 27 July 2026
No matched interventional trials. This is true for 73% of diseases in the trials denominator (5114 of 7003). Here are the researchers publishing on it.
medium confidence · 36.5th percentile (trials denominator)
Recruiting interventional trials
From the matched ClinicalTrials.gov set
No interventional trial testing a treatment was found for this specific condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov.
See who's working on it — people publishing on this disease are often the practical next contact when no trial is listed.
Where to find support
We do not yet link condition-specific patient organisations. These umbrella groups support undiagnosed and ultra-rare families:
India — NPRD
Last verified 2026-07-26This ORPHAcode is not on our curated NPRD list (direct or Mondo-parent match). That does not decide clinical eligibility; families in India should ask a notified Centre of Excellence about current coverage.
Hand-curated for this project. ORPHAcode mappings are best-effort and may be incomplete or imprecise for umbrella categories. Parent (Mondo) matches mean the policy lists a broader category — confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence. Financial entitlements summarised from public policy statements and may change. This is not official government guidance.
How we counted this
Europe PMC query (preferred label + any corrected label + Orphanet and Mondo exact synonyms, stoplisted; unioned with resolved MeSH labels when available). UMLS / OMIM / NCIT cross-references are stored on the overview but are not added to the query string.
"Balantidiasis" OR "Balantidiosis" OR "Ciliary dysentery"
ClinicalTrials.gov query (quoted phrases + MeSH via query.cond, plus recall-expansion terms when used):
"Balantidiasis" OR "Balantidiosis" OR "Ciliary dysentery"
Study-type breakdown: 0 interventional · 0 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.
Query health: ok — strategies attempted: phrase; with hits: phrase
Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov
Confidence reasoning
- Preferred label is short or not clearly distinctive
- No synonyms dropped by stoplist
- No label/synonym collisions with other diseases in this corpus
Ingested 2026-07-26T16:45:12.124Z