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Observe standard precautions that apply to stool specimens: https://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/diagnosticprocedures/stool/safety.html. If antibodies are not detectable in patients with an acute presentation of suspected amebic liver abscess, a second specimen should be drawn 7-10 days later. Amoebic liver abscess, as the most frequent extraintestinal complication, was concomitantly diagnosed and treated. Trophozoites usually measure 15 to 20 µm (range 10 to 60 µm), tending to be more elongated in diarrheal stool. DPDx is an education resource designed for health professionals and laboratory scientists. Although detection of IgM antibodies specific for E. histolytica has been reported, sensitivity is only about 64% in patients with current invasive disease. The motile trophozoites feed on bacteria and tissue, reproduce, colonize the lumen and the mucosa of the large intestine, and sometimes invade tissues and organs. Abdominal findings range from mild tenderness to frank abdominal pain, with high fevers and toxic systemic symptoms. The cytoplasm has a granular or “ground-glass” appearance. The abscess may perforate into the subphrenic space, right pleural cavity, right lung, or other adjacent organs (eg, pericardium). Heredia, R.D., Fonseca, J.A. Recent studies indicate improved sensitivity and specificity of fecal antigen assays with the use of monoclonal antibodies which can distinguish between E. histolytica and E. dispar infections. and López, M.C., 2012. Symptoms include pain or discomfort over the liver, which is occasionally referred to the right shoulder, as well as intermittent fever, sweats, chills, nausea, vomiting, weakness, and weight loss. The IHA and EIA tests are more suitable for laboratories that have frequent requests for amebiasis serology. Antigen detection may be useful as an adjunct to microscopic diagnosis in detecting parasites and can distinguish between pathogenic and nonpathogenic infections. Please confirm that you are a health care professional. In reference diagnosis laboratories, molecular analysis by PCR-based assays is the method of choice for discriminating between the pathogenic species (E. histolytica) and the nonpathogenic species (E. dispar).

Pathogenic Entamoeba species occur worldwide and are frequently recovered from fresh water contaminated with human feces. At least one commercial kit is available which detects only pathogenic E. histolytica infection in stool; several kits are available which detect E. histolytica antigens in stool but do not exclude E. dispar infections. A right-sided colonic mass may also be mistaken for cancer, tuberculosis, actinomycosis, or lymphoma. Cysts and trophozoites are passed in feces . Morphologic differentiation among these is possible, but potentially complicated, based on morphologic characteristics of the cysts and trophozoites. In: Ravdin JI, ed. Boiling water kills E. histolytica cysts.

Cysts can survive days to weeks in the external environment and remain infectious in the environment due to the protection conferred by their walls.

Needle aspiration is reserved for the following: Those likely to be due to fungi or pyogenic bacteria, Those that respond poorly to drug therapy. The effectiveness of chemical disinfection with iodine- or chlorine-containing compounds depends on the temperature of the water and amount of organic debris in it. Contamination of food and water with human feces must be prevented—a problem complicated by the high incidence of asymptomatic carriers. The cytoplasm has a granular or “ground-glass” appearance. Amebiasis can also be sexually transmitted by oral-anal contact. Concentration procedures, however, are not useful for demonstrating trophozoites. E. histolytica trophozoites can adhere to and kill colonic epithelial cells and polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) and can cause dysentery with blood and mucus but with few PMNs in stool.
No commercial antibody detection kits exist for E. dispar or E. moshkovskii or E. bangladeshi.