PEDIATRICS Vol. 65 No. 4 April 1980, pp. 799-803
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Extraintestinal Amebiasis in Infancy: Report of Three Patients and Epidemiologic Investigations of Their Families

Aubert C. Dykes MD1, Trenton K. Ruebush II MD1, Leo Gorelkin MD1, William B. Lushbaugh PhD1, Jane K. Upshur MD1, and James D. Cherry MD1

1 Parasitic Diseases Division, Bureau of Epidemiology, Center for Disease Control, Public Health Service, US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Atlanta; the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, The Center for the Health Sciences, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles; the Department of Pathology, Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta; the Division of Gastroenterology, Medical Service, Charleston Veterans Administration Hospital, Charleston, South Carolina, and the Departments of Pathology and Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston

Three infants (aged 6 weeks, 7 weeks, and 10 months) had severe Entamoeba histolytica infections characterized by colitis, hepatic abscesses, and peritonitis. The two younger children died after fulminant illnesses while the third recovered. Diagnosis was delayed in all three children by a low index of suspicion and negative stool examinations for parasites. Epidemiologic investigations of the infants' families revealed a high prevalence of amebic infections and elevated antibody titers to E histolytica; however, most family members were asymptomatic. The original source of the infections could not be identified but person-to-person spread within the families was implicated.

Submitted on June 1, 1979
Accepted on July 10, 1979