Intestinal inflammation associated with flagellates in snakes

The intestines of 51 snakes with histologically diagnosed or suspected amoebiasis were reinvestigated immunohistochemically with an Entamoeba invadens antibody. In 22 cases, trophozoites of Entamoeba invadens stained positively in the inflamed intestinal wall, but the protozoa visible in the pathologically changed intestines of a further 20 snakes were negative. On the basis of light and electron microscopical findings, these protozoa were identified as flagellates.