Blastocystis and chronic urticaria: the evidence reviewed does not justify routine testing or treatment
spp. as a hidden cause of chronic urticaria and suggest routine stool testing and treatment in positive cases. We argue that this conclusion is not supported by the current evidence, which is dominated by heterogeneous diagnostics, cross-sectional prevalence comparisons prone to misclassification and non-randomized treatment-response reports lacking clearance-linked endpoints. We outline minimum standards for interpretable inference, including quantitative detection, longitudinal sampling and trials linking confirmed clearance vs. persistence to validated urticaria outcomes.
Authors
- Funda Doğruman‐Al (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9118-3935)
- Eleni Gentekaki
- Anastasios D. Tsaousis
Institutions
- University of Nicosia (CY)
- University of Kent (GB)
- Gazi University (TR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Medical Microbiology
- Published
- 2026-05-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.002167
- Primary Topic
- Urticaria and Related Conditions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- European Cooperation in Science and Technology