Amoebiasis - Symptoms, Causes, Treatment

Q: How long does amoebiasis last?

In general, amoebiasis lasts for about two weeks. However, it can last longer if you do not treat it appropriately.

Q: Can amoebiasis be cured?

Generally, people develop amoebic colitis or an amoebic liver abscess. Doctors can successfully treat these by killing the parasites from their guts with the help of proper medicines.

In the current polluted and unhealthy environment, viruses and parasites are prevalent. Amoebiasis is a condition that occurs when Entamoeba histolytica or E. histolytica attacks your intestines. As the intestines are connected with your abdomen, this condition has the potential of causing severe health damage.

Are you concerned with the symptoms and treatment of this condition? Then, read till the end of this article to learn about amoebiasis.

What Is Amoebiasis?

Parasites are beings that survive in other living organisms or hosts. They usually feed on the host but do not contribute to the wellbeing of the latter. For example, if you have amoebiasis, your gut (intestine) becomes infected. Entamoeba is a group of single-celled parasites that infect both humans and animals. While there are about six species of this parasite, only E. histolytica causes disease in humans.

Thus, if you wonder what amoebiasis is, it refers to intestinal (bowel) illness because of microscopic parasites. Usually, it spreads through human faeces. It is common in tropical countries, where sanitation facilities tend to be underdeveloped. People who have travelled to such locations are more prone to get infected with amoebiasis.

What Are the Types of Amoebiasis?

Now that you know the meaning of amoebiasis, you might be wondering about its types. According to health researchers, the following two types of amoebiasis are commonly seen in patients.

Luminal amoebiasis: This type of amoebiasis hardly shows any clinical signs or symptoms. You might suffer from this condition if parasites invade your mucosa.
Invasive amoebiasis: In this type, various symptoms start showing once the parasites invade your body. It results in dysentery or amoeboma spreading in your blood to produce extraintestinal lesions such as a liver abscess.

What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Amoebiasis?

According to the researchers of Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only about 10%-20% of people suffering from amoebiasis become sick from it. Usually, there are no symptoms initially. However, an infected person might pass on the disease by defecating new cysts in the environment. Therefore, they usually do this after 1-4 weeks of ingesting the cysts when symptoms occur. As a result, you might commonly see this condition's following symptoms.

Abscesses
Infections
Bloody diarrhoea
Colitis and tissue destruction
Loose motion
Stomach cramps
Amoebic dysentery
Bowel perforation and peritonitis
Tenderness in the upper-right part of the abdomen

What Are the Causes of Amoebiasis?

As discussed already, amoebiasis is caused by a parasite called E histolytica. It might enter your large intestine (colon) and invade the colon wall, causing colitis, acute dysentery, or long-term (chronic) diarrhoea. The infection can also spread through your bloodstream, in some cases reaching significant organs like the lungs, brain and liver. In most cases, the parasite spreads in the following conditions.

Consumption of food or water that came in contact with infected faeces
Through fertiliser made of human waste
Direct contact between two people (mainly from the mouth or rectal area of an infected person)

Apart from this, the following risk factors can also contribute to some of the significant causes of amoebiasis.

Excessive alcohol consumption
Malnutrition and unhealthy diet
Cancer
Pregnancy
Recent travel to a tropical region
Corticosteroid medicine consumption to suppress the immune system

Who Is at Risk?

Amoebiasis is a common condition in tropical countries. Apart from the Indian subcontinent, this condition is common in parts of Central and South America, Mexico, and Africa. Apart from this, the risks of developing amoebiasis are higher in the following conditions.

Travel to tropical locations, facing underdeveloped sanitation
Exposure to infected individuals
Suffering from suppressed immune systems and other health conditions
Drinking contaminated or untreated water from lakes, wells and ponds
Age extremes (kids or elderly)
A recent sexual history of unprotected anal or oral-anal contact

How to Diagnose Amoebiasis?

When you face the symptoms mentioned above and visit your physician for treatment, you will undergo the diagnosis of amoebiasis. In most cases, doctors do this with the help of the following methods.

Stool test: Ideally, doctors examine three stool specimens from different days. The amount of amoebas usually varies daily, and it is hardly possible to detect the condition from one sample.
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA): If you suffer from an amoebic liver abscess, E. histolytica might not be present in your stool. For this, doctors often conduct ELISA to detect these antigens in your system.
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test: In some cases, doctors might take a nasal swab or a blood sample for conducting a PCR test. It helps them distinguish E. histolytica from other infections in your body.
Ultrasound or CT scan: If the parasites in your body reach outside the intestine, these are not present in your stool any more. In such cases, doctors need to conduct ultrasounds or CT scans to check your liver lesions.
Needle aspiration: If the doctors find lesions, they might conduct a needle aspiration in your body to check abscesses in your liver.

What Are the Treatments for Amoebiasis?

The treatment for amoebiasis depends on the presence of E. histolytica. If the tests diagnose its presence, you will receive treatment irrespective of the symptoms. However, if these tests diagnose only E. dispar, treatment is not mandatory since it is non-pathogenic. The following treatment procedures are standard in healthcare centres.

Antibiotic Medicines

Doctors commonly use antibiotics to treat amoebic colitis, including Metronidazole and Tinidazole. In addition, other medicines such as diloxanide furoate help get rid of any parasites in your gut. It is also effective in treating amoebic liver abscesses.

Surgery

If your colon or peritoneal tissues have perforations, surgery might be mandatory. However, this is rare, only when the condition is severe.

How to Prevent Amoebiasis?

By now, you must have had a clear notion about the definition of amoebiasis, its causes and symptoms. Now, you must be wondering about the prevention of amoebiasis. First, you need to know that sanitation is the primary requirement to avoid this condition. If you follow the below-mentioned rules, you can prevent getting amoebiasis.

Wash your hands properly with soap before handling food or after using the washroom
Avoid eating fruits that shopkeepers peel
Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly before cooking or eating them
Drink soft drinks and bottled water with sealed containers
Avoid fountain drinks, ice cubes and street-vendor food items
Boil tap water for a minimum of one hour before drinking
Avoid consuming unpasteurised dairy products

As you can understand from this article, amoebiasis appears as a simple condition but can have some serious complications and consequences if left untreated. The leading cause comes from a parasite E. histolytica, which attacks your colon and causes some severe symptoms related to your digestive system. Therefore, it is advisable to maintain a hygiene standard and a healthy diet to avoid this condition.