Comparison of the Effectiveness of the Examination of Multiple Stools and Proctoscopic Material for the Detection of Amebiasis
Marion Hood,
William A. Sodeman AND
W. R. Akenhead
Department of Pathology, Charity Hospital; Department of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, Tulane University School of Medicine; and Departments of Microbiology and of Medicine, Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana
1. Two hundred patients examined at the proctoscopic clinicsof the medical departments of the Louisiana State Universityand Tulane Medical Schools, were studied for the presence ofEndamoeba histolytica infection.
2. The increase of incidenceof amebiasis (from 4 to 13 percent) found in patients presentedin the proctoscopic clinicsover that reported from the parasitologylaboratory of CharityHospital can be accounted for in severalways.
a. Method of keeping records.
b. Selection of cases.
c.Multiple examinations of the cases studied.
3. Proctoscopicexaminations frequently disclose findings ofconsiderable importanceand so have a distinct value in themselves.The above data,however, indicate that adequate examinationof properly collectedfresh stools is somewhat, though not significantly,more efficientthan the examination of proctoscopic materialfor the diagnosisof intestinal amebiasis.
4. Direct examination of materialremoved during proctoscopyrevealed a few more E. histolyticaparasites than did examinationof iron hematoxylin stains madeon the same material.
5. No true superiority of method wasdemonstrated but it wasagain shown that the use of additionalprocedures and repeatedexaminations reveal an increased numberof amebic infections.