THE number and variety of drugs currently used in the treatment of amebiasis could lead one to believe that this is a clinically important infection in this country. Actually, it is not, despite the relative prevalence of intestinal infection with Endamoeba histolytica in certain rural and urban areas in the Southern United States. Incidence surveys based on stool examinations of hospital patients and rural inhabitants in these areas have disclosed infection rates as high as 20 per cent or more. This has resulted in the widespread generalization that 10 or 15 per cent of the population has amebiasis. On the . . .