Extraenteric infection caused by Blastocystis spp. in a female patient with liver abscess

: The cases associated with the development of liver abscesses in a 64-year-old female patient after elective surgery for colon polyposis could form an opinion that extraenteric infection caused by Blastocystis spp. might develop in the immunocompromised host. The development of Blastocystis spp. in the presence of disintegrated liver tissue and inflammatory cells was verified by microscopic examination of liver abscess aspirates. The Romanovsky-Giemsa stained specimens exhibited typical amoeboid, vacuolar and, what is particularly important, dividing forms of Blastocystis spp. The patients full recovery after timely combination therapy with broad-spectrum antibiotics and imidazole group preparations also indirectly argues for the etiological role of Blastocystis spp. in the development of liver abscess with the signs of changes in both lungs (the signs of right lung compression and bilateral hydrothorax). Physicians' awareness of the potential clinical significance of Blastocystis spp. in immunodeficient patients is sure to expand the range of differential diagnostic studies of patients infected with Blastocystis spp.. particularly in case of gastrointestinal tract diseases of unknown etiology.