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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Discovery of New Intracellular Pathogens by Amoebal Coculture and Amoebal Enrichment Approaches
Published on: October 27, 2013
Dientamoebiasis: clinical importance and recent advances
Damien J Stark1, Nigel Beebe, Deborah Marriott
1St Vincent's Hospital, Department of Microbiology, Sydney, New South Wales 2010, Australia. dstark@stvincents.com.au
Abstract:
Dientamoeba fragilis, an unusual single-celled parasite that was described first in 1918, is found worldwide in the gastrointestinal tract of humans. D. fragilis has emerged from obscurity recently because it is now recognized as a common cause of chronic diarrhoea and is treatable with drugs. Recent molecular studies have described D. fragilis as having two genotypes. Diagnostic tests, based on conventional and real-time PCR, have been developed that will provide a rapid, sensitive and specific diagnosis of D. fragilis. These tests will also aid the elucidation of the host distribution and the life cycle of this pathogen.
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