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If you have amebic dysentery, you can have bad diarrhea. You get amebic dysentery if your bowels (intestines) are infected with a type of bug called an amoeba.

Amoebas are tiny parasites. This means they can live inside your body. If you eat or drink food or water containing amoebas, they can get inside your body and live in your bowels. Sometimes they can live inside your body without making you sick.^{1 2} But they can cause bad diarrhea.

If you're infected with amoebas, your stools will contain amoebas. Amoebas can then get into food and water, and so the infection can pass on to other people. For example, if you go to the bathroom and don't wash your hands, amoebas from your stool could get into any food you prepare. Or sewage that isn't treated properly could contaminate drinking water.^{3 4} Eating food that's been washed in water contaminated with amoebas can also make you sick.

Even if the infection in your bowels doesn't make you sick, you can still pass it on to other people. So it's important to get treatment.

You usually get amebic dysentery (sometimes spelled amoebic dysentery) after eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water . So it's more common to get it in developing countries, where the tap water isn't as clean as we're used to.^{3 4}

Amebic dysentery can also be passed from person to person. For example, if someone doesn't wash their hands after going to the bathroom, then shakes your hand or gives you money, amoebas could pass into your mouth when you eat.

People from the United States are most likely to get amebic dysentery when they're traveling. You're also more likely to get it if you:^{1 3 5}

• Live in crowded conditions or in close contact with other people, such as at a military base
• Have a weak immune system, for example, because you're having chemotherapy or you have HIV
• Have oral sex or anal sex.

If you're traveling in a developing country, there are things you can do to make it less likely that you'll catch amebic dysentery. To read more, see Preventing amebic dysentery.

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment. ©BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2008. All rights reserved.