Protozoan burden
Intestinal protozoal colonization↓
Also searched as Intestinal protozoal colonization.
You want it cleared: a protozoan multiplies inside its host rather than merely living there, so a small exposure does not stay small.
In depth
Single-celled intestinal parasites — Giardia and its relatives — that multiply inside the host rather than merely residing there. There is no effective vaccine, so the burden is cleared by treatment or not at all.
What it drives
It increases Parasite burden.
Taxonomic edge. Intestinal protozoa are a distinct parasite class from the helminths. Verbatim: “Intestinal protozoa multiply rapidly in their hosts, and as there is a lack of effective vaccines, chemotherapy has been the only practised way to treat individuals and reduce transmission.”. PMC2754014
It reduces Gut barrier.
Giardia disrupts epithelial tight junctions and causes villous atrophy of the small intestine. doi 10.1371/journal.pone.0136102
It reduces Micronutrient status.
Villous atrophy and brush-border enzyme loss produce malabsorption of nutrients. PMID 41753797
It increases Calms body-wide inflammation.
Entamoeba histolytica tissue invasion and colonic ulceration drive a systemic inflammatory response. PMID 34764364
It increases Inflammatory signaling.
IL-17 signaling is required for mucosal control of Giardia and Entamoeba infection. doi 10.1186/1756-3305-7-212
Blends that modulate it
Each blend page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
See it on the map
Open the causal map to follow this pathway upstream and downstream, arrow by arrow, each with its study.