Amoebas are tiny

 

 

 

 

 

parasite
Parasites are germs that can only survive by living on or in another living thing.

 

 

 

 

 

parasites. This means they can live inside your body. There are different types of amoeba, and they don't always make you sick. This makes it hard to say exactly how many people are infected with the type that causes dysentery.

Infection with amoebas is more common in Central and South America, Africa and Asia.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Rivera WI, Tachibana H, Kanbara H.
Field study on the distribution of Entamoeba histolytica and Entamoeba dispar in the northern Philippines as detected by PCR.
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 1998; 59: 916-921.

 

 

 

 

 

¹

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Haque R, Faruque ASG, Hahn P, et al.
Entamoeba histolytica and Entamoeba dispar infection in children in Bangladesh.
Journal of Infectious Diseases. 1997; 175: 734-736.

 

 

 

 

 

²

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Braga LL, Mendonca Y, Paiva CA, et al.
Seropositivity for and intestinal colonization with Entamoeba histolytica and Entamoeba dispar in individuals in Northeastern Brazil.
Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 1998; 36: 3044-3045.

 

 

 

 

 

³ Up to 40 in 100 people in these areas may be infected. Most of these people won't become sick, but they can pass on the infection to other people.

In the United States and other developed countries, less than 1 in 100 people have amoebas in their body.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Stanley SL.
Amoebiasis.
Lancet. 2003; 361: 1025-1034.

 

 

 

 

 

⁴ People in these countries are most likely to get amebic dysentery when they're traveling in the developing parts of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Stanley SL.
Amoebiasis.
Lancet. 2003; 361: 1025-1034.

 

 

 

 

 

⁴

Amebic dysentery is also more common in crowded conditions or places where lots of people live together, for example at a military base.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Stanley SL.
Amoebiasis.
Lancet. 2003; 361: 1025-1034.

 

 

 

 

 

⁴

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Davis AN, Haque R, Petri WA.
Update on protozoan parasites of the intestine.
Current Opinion in Gastroenterology. 2002; 18: 10-14.

 

 

 

 

 

⁵

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Petri WA, Singh U.
Diagnosis and management of amebiasis.
Clinical Infectious Diseases. 1999; 29: 1117-1125.

 

 

 

 

 

⁶

Around the world, between 40,000 and 100,000 people die of amebic dysentery each year.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Espinosa-Cantellano M, Martinez-Palomo A.
Recent developments in amoebiasis research.
Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases. 2000; 13: 451-456.

 

 

 

 

 

⁷ But it's rare to die of amebic dysentery in the United States and other developed countries, where you have ready access to good health care.

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