ABSTRACT
Ever since the ‘rst description in 1912 by Brumpt [1] as harmless yeast, Blastocystis hominis is a common intestinal protozoan parasite in the current textbooks of parasitology and microbiology. Despite being reported 100 years ago, the nature of Blastocystis is not fairly elucidated. Although a detailed review on the history and basic biology of Blastocystis has been made by Zierdt [2], several descriptions have not yet been demonstrated and are still confusing as mentioned in many reviews [3−7]. Based on suitable diagnostic methodologies and expertise in laboratory diagnosis, B. hominis is found to be one of the most frequently encountered protozoan parasites in human stool samples [5,8−11]. Morphologically B. hominis-like organisms have been widely found in various animals, including nonhuman primates and domestic, wild, pets, and zoo mammals or birds, and occasionally reptiles, amphibians, and insects [12−25].
