Primer reporte de Balantidium nawaraoi en Ecuador

The presence of Balantidium nawaraoi in the feces of a 75-year-old male patient from a rural population with poor sanitation conditions in the province of Manabí, Sucre canton, Ecuador, is described. The stool was liquid, brown, and had mucus present. The patient was elderly and disabled, which suggests possible immunosuppression. This is related to what has been reported in indigenous patients from the state of Delta Amacuro, Venezuela, where the first cases were described. However, it differs mainly in that, in this patient, it was the only enteroparasitic species described, contrary to the first reports of this new species that referred to polyparasitism.