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Entamoeba histolytica, the Causative Agent of Amoebiasis
Published in Hajiya Mairo Inuwa, Ifeoma Maureen Ezeonu, Charles Oluwaseun Adetunji, Emmanuel Olufemi Ekundayo, Abubakar Gidado, Abdulrazak B. Ibrahim, Benjamin Ewa Ubi, Medical Biotechnology, Biopharmaceutics, Forensic Science and Bioinformatics, 2022
Charles Oluwaseun Adetunji, Oyetunde T. Oyeyemi
Amoebiasis is a parasitic disease instigated by Entamoeba histolytica, a protozoan parasite with worldwide distribution (Gonzales et al., 2019). It causes high illness and death and has become an important foremost public health challenges being considered the third parasitic disease of medical importance after schistosomiasis and malaria (Pinilla et al., 2008). Amoebic colitis or extraintestinal abscess develops in about 40–50 million individuals diseased with the cystic form of E. histolytica resulting in 100,000 deaths annually (Choudhuri and Rangan, 2012). Amoebic colitis is a major etiology of severe diarrhea in developed and underdeveloped countries most especially among children with the age of 5 (Shirley et al., 2018). The regions of the world with highest burden of amoebiasis include Asia, the tropical and sub-Saharan regions of Africa, and South and Central America (Shirley et al., 2018). The prevalence of amoebiasis which varies in different population strata is determined by the socioeconomic status, sanitary situations, and the investigative test usage (Gonzales et al., 2019).
Microbiological Quality of Environmental Samples
Published in Maria Csuros, Csaba Csuros, Klara Ver, Microbiological Examination of Water and Wastewater, 2018
Maria Csuros, Csaba Csuros, Klara Ver
Amoebas move by extending usually blunt, lobe-like projections of the cytoplasm called pseudopods. Any number of pseudopods can flow from one side of the amoeba cell, and the rest of the cell will flow toward the pseudopods. Amoebic dysentery or amoebiasis is found worldwide and is spread by food and water contaminated by cysts of the protozoan Entamoeba histolytica. Although stomach acid can destroy vegetative cells, it does not affect the cysts. It causes severe dysentery and the feces contain blood and mucus (the vegetative form feed on red blood cells). In severe cases, the intestinal wall is perforated and invasion of other organs (for example, the liver) is possible. The major source of amoebiasis is drinking water contamination by sewage, the fecal-oral route, and consumption of uncooked polluted vegetables. Trophozoites of E. histolytica are shown in Figures 7.4 and 7.5.
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Published in Jamie Bartram, Rachel Baum, Peter A. Coclanis, David M. Gute, David Kay, Stéphanie McFadyen, Katherine Pond, William Robertson, Michael J. Rouse, Routledge Handbook of Water and Health, 2015
Some important faecal–oral protozoan parasites and their key properties are shown in Table 3.1, Chapter 3. The faecal–oral protozoan parasites comprise several distinct taxonomic groups and all except Toxoplasma gondii cause gastrointestinal infection and illness (Feachem et al., 1983; Fletcher et al., 2012). Entamoeba histolytica can cause dysentery (amoebiasis) with symptoms of bloody diarrhea, stomach pain and fever. Rarely, E. histolytica can invade the liver and cause abscesses and even more rarely infect the lungs or brain (Baron, 1996). Toxoplasma gondii, which has felines as its definitive host, can also infect humans and other mammalian hosts by oral ingestion of feline faeces. It has caused foodborne (from contaminated meat of infected animals) and occasionally waterborne disease. It produces a flu-like illness with body aches, swollen lymph nodes, headache, fever and fatigue. Occasionally it spreads to other sites in the body such as the brain to cause chronic or persistent infection with disease symptoms such as neurological disorders. Cryptosporidiumspecies, Giardia intestinalis, Toxoplasma gondii and possibly Entamoeba histolytica are considered infectious at low to moderate doses. For Cyclospora cayetanensis the dose–response relationship is unknown but thought be low based on epidemiological evidence from common source outbreaks. Although acute gastrointestinal illness from faecal–oral protozoan parasites is often transient and self-limiting, persistent and repeated infection in children can lead to stunting and other developmental deficits. Both Entamoeba histolytica and Toxoplasma gondii can cause chronic infections with spread to other organs of the body and long-term adverse health effects, especially in immunocompromised humans. Immunity to most infections by faecal–oral protozoan parasite pathogens is protective temporarily against reinfection, but immunity can wane over time and reinfection and illness can occur later, often from different serotypes or strains within species, genus or sub-group (Baron, 1996).
The detection of Entamoeba histolytica and Toxoplasma gondii in wastewater
Published in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 2018
Caroline Ajonina, Christopher Buzie, Julia Möller, Ralf Otterpohl
Amoebiasis attributed to E. histolytica is known to be a continuous global public health threat. Amoebiasis is among the most widespread human infections in poor and socioeconomically deprived areas in the tropics and subtropics with children being the most vulnerable. Amoebae multiply and adhere to enterocytes of the large intestine producing diseases such as ulcerative colitis and intestinal abscesses. E. histolytica is the only known species of the genus Entamoeba that causes disease in humans. Morphologically, it is identical to the non-pathogenic Entamoeba dispar (Stauffer and Ravdin 2003). According to Clark, Espinosa Cantanello, and Bhattacharya (2000), the main host for E. histolytica is the human, but non-human primates; cats, dogs and rats, were also found to be occasional hosts. Transmission of E. histolytica may be through contacting contaminated food and also by ingesting undercooked food and vegetables. Other sources may include contaminated water and swimming pools.