title: Diagnosis of amoebic colitis by antigen capture ELISA in patients presenting with acute diarrhoea in Cairo, Egypt.
abstract: We studied 84 consecutive patients presenting with acute diarrhoea (less than 1 week in duration) at an outpatient tropical medicine clinic in Cairo, Egypt. The diagnosis of amoebic colitis was established by the presence of Entamoeba histolytica galactose-inhibitable lectin antigen and the presence of occult blood in stool. Controls were 182 healthy regional people and 64 patients complaining of prolonged diarrhoea lasting more than 1 week. Entamoeba histolytica infection was found more frequently in patients with acute diarrhoea (57.1%) than in healthy controls (21.4%) or patients with prolonged diarrhoea (25%) (P < 0.001). There was a higher prevalence of Entamoeba dispar infection in the two control groups (24.2 and 20.3%, respectively, P=0.004 and 0.061) compared with those with acute diarrhoea (8.3%). Of the 84 patients with acute diarrhoea 32 had amoebic colitis (38%), and of these, 31 (97%) had at least one positive assay for serum amoebic antibodies (P < 0.001 compared with control groups). In summary, as determined by antigen-detection enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, there is an unexpectedly high prevalence of amoebic colitis among patients presenting with acute diarrhoea to a tropical disease clinic in Cairo, Egypt.
authors.affiliation: El-Hussein University Hospital, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Abd-Alla
authors.forename: Jonathan I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Ravdin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000209:etiology*; D004404:Dysentery, Amebic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D004748:Entamoeba histolytica / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence
chemical_list: D000953:Antigens, Protozoan