Researcher reports on advances in treatment of a leading parasitic killer.

2003 MAY 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In the developing world, 1 of every 10 children dies by his or her fifth birthday. In a new report, Dr. William Petri, professor of medicine at the University of Virginia Health System, discusses advances in the diagnosis and treatment of amebic dysentery, one of the leading parasitic killers of young children.

In the review article, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Petri reported that bowel and liver disease due to this parasite is epidemic in many parts of the world. Outbreaks in the United States are only prevented by hygienic measures. When water becomes contaminated with the parasite, as it recently has in Tblisi in the Republic of Georgia, then epidemics occur.

"This is a serious problem in developing countries, but also in countries or regions where there is war or social disruption, like in Iraq," Petri said. "Since the infectious cyst is resistant to chlorine and remains environmentally stable for days or weeks, once food or water is contaminated, disease can quickly reach epidemic proportions."

Diagnosis of infection is very difficult. In fact, in a test of clinical laboratories in the United States and Canada, the correct diagnosis was made in only 1 of 10 cases, Petri said. The team at U.Va. has developed the only FDA-approved diagnostic test for Entamoeba histolytica, the parasite that causes amebic dysentery or amebiasis. Use of this test can greatly improve diagnostic accuracy and prevent this treatable parasitic disease from being confused with inflammatory bowel disease, also know as ulcerative colitis or Crohn disease.

E. histolytica can live in the large intestine without causing ...