THE THREAT OF AMEBIASIS IN THE FOOD HANDLER

Abstract

In the light of the very disquieting experience here recounted, which is the second of its kind occurring in a large metropolitan center within a few years, one clearly defined fact is apparent—that too little thought has been given to amebiasis as a public health hazard in the United States. Although several published surveys,¹have called attention to the growing incidence of infestation with Endamoeba histolytica in this country, giving evidence that from 3 to 10 per cent of the populations studied were infested with this parasite, the general impression still prevails that the disease is mostly confined to tropical and subtropical regions and is of little concern in the temperate zones. However, two recent outbreaks of amebic dysentery in large urban hotels—the last numbering thirty-one clinically active cases and eleven carriers of the encysted parasite at the time of the first examination, with a number of unexplained cases