EXPERIENCES IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND ANTIBIOTIC THERAPY OF AMEBIASIS: AN ANALYSIS OF 50 CASES

Abstract

Fifty patients with amebiasis of the colon with and without liver involvement were observed at an army installation. The majority of these patients were not dysenteric. The most frequently observed symptom was right lower quadrant, episodic pain, and several of these patients had been mistakenly operated for appendicitis. Bizarre symptom complexes occurred with hepatic involvement, emphasizing the importance of the inclusion of amebiasis in the differential diagnosis whenever atypical or recurrent hepatitis is encountered. Sigmoidoscopy with direct, immediate examination of the mucosal aspirate was found more dependable for diagnosis than careful examination of purged stools. This procedure was repeated, usually several times, as a criterion of cure in treated patients. Therapy was chiefly carried out with chloroquine combined with terramycin or aureomycin in repeated courses. Results were much less favorable than recent literature led the authors to expect. The cure rate was no higher than with conventional amebacides and bowel infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms was a troublesome complication of therapy. The authors have now returned to the conventional amebacidal drugs for treatment.