Is Lophomonas a Pathogen?

The protozoan Lophomonas has been reported to be a pathogen of humans in a large number of case reports and case series. Most of these case reports describe infections of the respiratory tract. Editors in Conversation is joined by two experts to discuss this possible parasite. Some of the questions addressed include: What are the characteristics of the species in the genus Lophomonas? What are the laboratory and morphological data that suggest that Lophomonas species cause human infections? What are the purported clinical manifestations of Lophomonas? Finally, is Lophomonas truly a pathogen of humans? Guests: Dr. Abhishek Mewara - Additional Professor in the Department of Medical Parasitology at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, India. Dr. Bobbi Pritt - Chair of the Division of Clinical Microbiology and Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic. Related article: “Lophomonas as a respiratory pathogen—jumping the gun,” by Abhishek Mewara, Gillian H. Gile, Blaine Mathison, Huan Zhao, Bobbi Pritt, and Richard S. Bradbury (https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jcm.00845-23). This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and hosted by JCM Editor in Chief, Alex McAdam and Dr. Elli Theel. JCM is available at https://jcm.asm.org and on https://twitter.com/JClinMicro. Visit journals.asm.org/journal/jcm to read articles and/or submit a manuscript. Follow JCM on Twitter via @JClinMicro