CARBARSONE IN THE TREATMENT OF AMEBIASIS

Abstract

The usual treatment of amebiasis is unsatisfactory. Of the numerous drugs used and/or recommended, no single one nor combination meets the requirements for satisfactory therapy. These are that the drug shall be clinically nontoxic, shall be highly curative without adjuvants, shall be available for oral administration, shall interfere little if at all with the usual activities of the patient, and shall be of low cost. Such an agent might also offer hope of drug prophylaxis, which thus far has not been attainable. The seriousness of the therapeutic situation in amebiasis is apparent especially when one considers the relatively high incidence of the malady and the general disappointment with present methods of treatment. It is surprising that no systematic chemotherapeutic survey of the disease has been attempted until recently,¹in spite of the long standing example of Ehrlich's²success in comparable protozoan infections. INCIDENCE Reports on its epidemiology generally