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Amoebiasis

Amoebiasis is infection with Entamoeba histolytica, a parasite acquired through contaminated food, water or hands that mainly affects the large intestine.

Key takeaways

  • Many infections cause no symptoms, while invasive disease may produce abdominal cramps and diarrhoea containing blood or mucus.
  • Stool testing is needed because other infections and inflammatory bowel disease can look similar.
  • Treatment often requires a tissue-active medicine followed by a luminal agent to clear parasites remaining in the bowel.

The listings below do not confirm amoebiasis; treatment should follow appropriate testing and clinical assessment.

Recognising invasive disease

Symptoms can develop gradually and range from loose stools to dysentery with urgency and pain. A liver abscess can cause fever and right-upper abdominal pain, sometimes without diarrhoea. Travel and exposure history matter, but do not establish the diagnosis by themselves.

Why treatment has stages

Nitroimidazole medicines treat parasites that have invaded tissue but may not eradicate cysts in the intestinal lumen. A follow-on luminal medicine is therefore commonly needed. Choice depends on disease site, pregnancy, liver health, interactions and local availability; severe disease may require hospital care.

When to seek urgent care

Seek urgent care for severe or bloody diarrhoea, fainting, inability to keep fluids down, marked dehydration, high fever, confusion, jaundice or persistent right-upper abdominal pain.