KUCHING: Beware of the water that you drink and the rivers and lakes that you swim in.
You could get infected by a relatively new water-borne parasite and organism called blastocystis.
University of Malaya (UM) Professor Dr G Suresh Kumar told The Borneo Post yesterday that one of the parasite called blastocystis hominis can reside in human beings.
It can cause diarrhoea, bloating stomach and contribute to gastro intestinal symptoms.
He added that they discovered the organism in 1990 and not many people knew of it in the world.
Dr Suresh said that Malaysia has the longest blastocystis lab in the world and was considered the early pioneers in the research.
He added that they have been doing a lot of research on this water borne parasite, because it can transmit through food, through water and also transmit through animals.
He advised people to be more aware of hygiene, conscious of the water they drink and conscious of their safety, especially those who lives in the rural where the water is not treated.
“The people who is in the rural are the most vulnerable, as they are consistently exposed to hostile environment and they will get it more easily and if they get infected they must get medical attention.”
He added that this organism was not found in domestic tap water in town, as the water was treated and it has good filtration system.
He said that even though they have done the studies, not many people and doctors knew about these parasites but disease caused by the organism is treatable and the drug of choice is metronidazole.
“To further safeguard humans from this waterborne parasite, lots of people are now coming up with new drugs. This is because the sub-type of the parasite does not respond to metronidazole,” said Dr Suresh who is an expert in tropical medicine and parasitology. They have not done any studies in Sarawak however they would like to initiate it soon.
Dr Suresh said usually their targets are the army, HIV patients, children, people who handle animals and people with irritable bowel syndrome.
In their vitro studies Dr Suresh also revealed that the long term presence of the organism in the guts, especially in those who has cancer can trigger the cell to multiply faster.
The water borne organism will not cause an epidemic and is treatable, concluded Dr Suresh.
Dr Suresh was one of the speakers at the International Water Safety Conference 2010 held at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching from Nov 2 to Nov 4.