Question

What is Entamoeba coli?

Answer 1

Hint: This is an endoparasite. A parasite that draws nutrition from the host by living inside the host is known as endoparasite. A parasite that lives outside the host body like on the body surface and draws nutrition by sucking body fluids is known as ectoparasites.

Complete answer:
This is an endoparasite of the Entamoeba genera. It is non-pathogenic, which means it does not induce any immune response when present in the host. It is mostly present in the human colon (large intestine) as a commensal parasite.
Commensalism is a type of population interaction where neither one species is benefitted and the other species is neither benefited nor harmed.
This bacterium does not move in intestine much, and is usually immobile in nature and exists in a round shape. It does not use much pseudopodia for movement.
This bacterium has a monogenetic life cycle, and has three distinct stages- trophozoite stage, pre-cystic and cystic stage.
Although the bacteria are harmless, some cases of internal bleeding are known. This may occur if the bacterial load in the colon increases due to repeated infections.
Detection of this bacteria is done in the stool samples of the patients.
The amoeba is only visible in fresh, unfixed stool specimens in its trophozoite stage.

Note:
This parasite should not be confused with E. coli, which stands for Escherichia coli, which is a pathogenic bacterium. Also, it is sometimes confused while examining stool samples with its pathogenic member Entamoeba histolytica, which may cause amoebiasis. During clinical diagnosis, this bacterium can be distinguished from others in its trophozoite stage having wide and tapered pseudopodia.