Acne, Pimples and Skin Disorders |
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Amoebiasis, Causes, Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention of Amoebiasis
Amoebiasis or
Amoebic Dysentery
is an influence disease caused by the
biological agents such as bacteria, viruses, parasites
like entamoeba histolytica.
About 90 percent of Amoebiasis infections are asymptomatic (do not produce any symptoms) and the remaining 1O percent produces a spectrum varying from dysentery to amoebic liver abscess.
Around one in ten people who are infected with amoebiasis become ill from the disease.
Amoebic abscesses may form in the liver, lungs, and brain and elsewhere in the body.
It can either occur as intestinal or extra-intestinal amoebiasis.
However, sometimes the amoebas can start eating away at the wall of the intestine, causing diarrhoea and other symptoms. Amoebiasis, a type of gastro, is a cause of diarrhoea among travellers to developing countries.
There are other forms of amoebiasis caused by swimming in contaminated ponds or by exposure to monkeys.
In order to diagnose this disorder, blood test can be performed, and is positive in more than 90 percent of patients with invasive amoebiasis.
Amoebiasis is more likely to affect people who live or have travelled in developing countries, where sanitation and hygiene is poor.
Amoebiasis can be prevented by good hygiene and sanitary conditions.
It occurs when a person eats or swallows something that has been infected with the entamoeba histolytica parasite.
Barium studies are contraindicated in acute amoebic colitis for fear of perforation.
Acute intestinal amoebiasis should be differentiated from organisms causing traveller's diarrhoea (which is due to a bacteria called Escherischia Coli) and also inflammatory bowel disease.
Amoebas can spread via the circulation to the liver and cause liver abscesses. The infection may spread further by direct extension from the liver or through the bloodstream to the lungs, brain, and other organs.
People with amoebiasis may experience mild or severe symptoms or no symptoms at all, the common are stomach cramps, nausea, diarrhea, sometimes containing blood, loose stools, abdominal tenderness and occasional fever and weight loss.
By frequently washing your hands you are eliminating the amoebiasis parasite that you have picked up from contaminated surfaces, from other people, or from animals and animal waste.
Symptoms of Amoebiasis
The symptoms are not usually severe and may be mistaken for diarrhoea. They include:
- Pain when pressure is applied over the liver, just under the ribs on the right side
- Loose stools
- Blood-stained stools
- Tenesmus (painful passage of stools)
- Vague gastrointestinal distress
- Stomach pain
- Stomach cramps
Treatment for Amoebiasis
Treatment must be aimed at both the intestinal and extra-intestinal (e.g. liver) forms. Most medications will not hit both forms so a combination of antibiotics, such as iodoquin and metronidazole is needed. The doctor will prescribe medication such as
- Metronidazole
- Diloxanide
- Furoate
- Dehydroemetine
- Emetine
- Paromomycin
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