[The origin of histological changes in amebiasis]

On microscopic examination of histological specimens from an autopsy case with severe amoebiasis, extensive ulcerative-necrotic lesions in the colon were found associated with an amoebic peritonitis and severe degenerative lesions of the ganglion-cells of the plexus myentericus induced by Entamoeba histolytica. There was also an infiltration of a mesenteric lymphnode by amoebae carried by the lymph through the vasa afferentiae lymphaticae. In the liver several granulomas (amoebic granulomas) and numerous small necrotic areas, surrounded by a dense leucocytic infiltration, were observed. The origin of the lesions in the colon could be attributed to the motility of the amoebae and the secretion of lytic substances (ferments) by the amoebae, whereas the lesions in the liver (amoebic granulomas and necrotic areas) must be considered as the residues of the destroyed amoebae which were brought by the circulation into the liver parenchyma. These lesions are similar to those seen in experimentally produced amoebiasis.