A NEW HOST OF ENTAMOEBA INVADENS RODHAIN, 1934

Abstract

A strain of Entamoeba invadens has been isolated for the first time from a natural infection in a painted turtle, Chrysemys picta. Infection experiments with this strain have corroborated the earlier observations on the high pathogenicity of E. invadens in snakes, but not in turtles. This, together with the fact that E. invadens in the past had been isolated only from captive snakes, which might have become infected in captivity from turtle carriers, suggests that E. invadens is a natural, non-pathogenic parasite of turtles.