Parasites - Sarcocystosis

Sarcocystosis is a disease caused by a microscopic parasite Sarcocystis. In humans, two types of the disease can occur, one causes diarrhea, mild fever, and vomiting (intestinal type), and the other type causes muscle pain, transitory edema, and fever (muscular type). However, most people infected with Sarcocystis do not have symptoms. Sarcocystosis occurs in tropical or subtropical countries. Muscular sarcocystosis has most often been reported from countries in Southeast Asia.

Images: Sporulated oocysts of Sarcocystis sp. in a wet mount viewed under UV microscopy, magnification 400x. (Credit: DPDx)