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Abstract
Blastocystis is a protozoan parasite that inhabits the human intestinal tract. Various epidemiological surveys have recorded 50 - 60% prevalence in developing countries. Nitazoxanide is a commonly used drug in treatment of blastocystis infection especially in metronidazole treatment failure. However, undesirable side effects and treatment failures were reported. To investigate the effect of probiotics, oregano oil and quillaja saponaria (QS) as natural compounds against isolated Blastocystis in comparison to nitazoxanide , fresh stools samples positive for blastocystis were processed for in vitro cultivation using locke serum media. Three criteria were used to test the drug{u2019}s efficacy, living cell count (LCC), living cell rate (LCR) and ultra structure changes as seen by transmission electron microscope (TEM). All the tested compounds used at higher concentrations showed a significant reduction in both LCC and LCR with p value < 0.001 and significant ultra structural changes as seen by TEM. The tested compounds were arranged according to their LCR % on day one as follows: QS (1000 og / ml) (47.1%), oregano oil (3200og / ml) (49.5%), probiotics (500og / ml) (57.0%) and nitazoxanide (0.776og / ml) (62.5%). QS, oregano oil and probiotics are promising new herbal therapeutic agents against Blastocystis