Relationship with humans
Paramecium can have both positive and negative effects on humans. Paramecia have potential to spread harmful diseases in the human body by imbalance, but they can also serve a benefit to humans by destroying Cryptococcus neoformans, a type of disease caused by special fungi (from the genus Cryptococcus) that can spread in the human body and affect the immune system. Studies have shown that these benefits only occur with the combined interactions of amoebas and certain Paramecium species to create this effect. The disease is more common in people with AIDs and HIV; symptoms include inflammation of the brain, fevers, headaches, shortness of breath and altered mental status. The relations between these active organisms are called protist- fungal interactions, protists having control over fungi.
Paramecium can have both positive and negative effects on humans. Paramecia have potential to spread harmful diseases in the human body by imbalance, but they can also serve a benefit to humans by destroying Cryptococcus neoformans, a type of disease caused by special fungi (from the genus Cryptococcus) that can spread in the human body and affect the immune system. Studies have shown that these benefits only occur with the combined interactions of amoebas and certain Paramecium species to create this effect. The disease is more common in people with AIDs and HIV; symptoms include inflammation of the brain, fevers, headaches, shortness of breath and altered mental status. The relations between these active organisms are called protist- fungal interactions, protists having control over fungi.