Comparison of the Effectiveness of the Examination of Multiple Stools and Proctoscopic Material for the Detection of Amebiasis

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Abstract
Summary and Conclusions 1. Two hundred patients examined at the proctoscopic clinics of the medical departments of the Louisiana State University and Tulane Medical Schools, were studied for the presence of Endamoeba histolytica infection. 2. The increase of incidence of amebiasis (from 4 to 13 per cent) found in patients presented in the proctoscopic clinics over that reported from the parasitology laboratory of Charity Hospital can be accounted for in several ways. a. Method of keeping records. b. Selection of cases. c. Multiple examinations of the cases studied. 3. Proctoscopic examinations frequently disclose findings of considerable importance and so have a distinct value in themselves. The above data, however, indicate that adequate examination of properly collected fresh stools is somewhat, though not significantly, more efficient than the examination of proctoscopic material for the diagnosis of intestinal amebiasis. 4. Direct examination of material removed during proctoscopy revealed a few more E. histolytica parasites than did examination of iron hematoxylin stains made on the same material. 5. No true superiority of method was demonstrated but it was again shown that the use of additional procedures and repeated examinations reveal an increased number of amebic infections.