AMEBIASIS AMONG THE AMERICAN ARMED FORCES IN THE MIDDLE EAST

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Abstract
INTRODUCTION THE RECENT American literature1 has been placing increasing emphasis on the probability that American armed forces located in tropical and subtropical areas will return to the United States harboring many diseases acquired in these localities. A report of the Office of War Information2 listed dysentery as the second greatest threat of disease among American overseas forces. Malaria headed the list. This report covers the experience of a general hospital of the United States Army, located in the Middle East, with respect to amebic infection, during the period between Nov. 11, 1942, and Nov. 31, 1944. The present war is the first time that American troops have been stationed in this region in any considerable numbers. Amebiasis is hyperendemic in this area, principally because of the policy of using human feces as fertilizer. The host-parasite relationship, and thus the clinical picture, will not be similar in the native