Amoebiasis in foreign students

A total of 2,883 foreign students at the age of 18-30 years were examined for amoebiasis after their arrival to Czechoslovakia. Stool examinations revealed the presence of Entamoeba histolytica in 112 of them (3.9%). Students from 38 countries were found to be infected with this parasite. In a set of 2,064 students from these countries E. histolytica prevalence in stool was 5.4%. There were greater differences in the prevalence between individual countries inside a geographical region than between individual geographical regions. The highest E. histolytica prevalence in stool was found in students from tropical and southern Africa (6.7% of 745 examined) and the lowest in students from South-eastern Asia (3.1% of 321 examined). In a simple cross-section study, antibodies against E. histolytica were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the sera of 1,001 persons. Antibodies were detected in 7.9% of students at the following titres: 1:200 in 4.5%, 1:600 in 1.5%, 1:1,800 in 1.9%. Antibodies occurred more frequently in students carrying E. histolytica cysts (X2 = 14.9). Titre of ELISA antibodies in patients with confirmed liver abscess was higher than 1:1,800. counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) test was used for serum examinations of patients who had been demonstrated by ELISA to be seropositive and of those carrying E. histolytica cysts. In a set of 170 patients CIEP antibodies were also more frequent in those carrying E. histolytica cysts (X2 = 26.95). A comparison of the results of ELISA and CIEP tests in the same patients revealed that CIEP antibodies were more dependent on the actual parasitization with E. histolytica than ELISA antibodies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)