Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Apr;82(4):614-9.
doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2010.09-0478.

A review of the clinical presentation of dientamoebiasis

Damien Stark  1 , Joel Barratt, Tamalee Roberts, Deborah Marriott, John Harkness, John Ellis
Affiliations

A review of the clinical presentation of dientamoebiasis

Damien Stark et al. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010 Apr.

Abstract

Among 750 symptomatic and asymptomatic patients, Dientamoeba fragilis was detected at a prevalence of 5.2% and more common than Giardia intestinalis. Most infected patients presented with diarrhea and abdominal pain with symptoms greater than 2 weeks duration being common. Bacterial and viral causes of infection were excluded by routine microbiological techniques. Treatment of D. fragilis infection with either iodoquinol, paromomycin, or combination therapy resulted in the eradication of the parasite and complete resolution of symptoms. Treatment failure/relapses were associated only with the use of metronidazole. Nineteen patients were examined for pin worm, no Enterobius vermicularis, a proposed vector of transmission, were detected. Intermittent shedding of D. fragilis was found to be highly variable. These studies confirm the pathogenic nature of D. fragilis and we recommend laboratories routinely test for the organism.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Age distribution of Dientamoeba fragilis-infected patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Jepps MW, Dobell C. Dientamoeba fragilis n.g., n. sp., new intestinal amoeba from man. Parasitology. 1918;10:352–367.
    1. Camp RR, Mattern CF, Honigberg BM. Study of Dientamoeba fragilis Jepps and Dobell. I. Electronmicroscopic observations of the binucleate stages. II. Taxonomic position and revision of the genus. J Protozool. 1974;21:69–82. - PubMed
    1. Dwyer DM. Analysis of the antigenic relationships among Trichomonas, Histomonas, Dientamoeba and Entamoeba. 3. Immunoelectrophoresis technics. J Protozool. 1974;21:139–145. - PubMed
    1. Silberman JD, Clark CG, Sogin ML. Dientamoeba fragilis shares a recent common evolutionary history with the trichomonads. Mol Biochem Parasitol. 1996;76:311–314. - PubMed
    1. Delgado-Viscogliosi P, Viscogliosi E, Gerbod D, Kulda J, Sogin ML, Edgcomb VP. Molecular phylogeny of parabasalids based on small subunit rRNA sequences, with emphasis on the Trichomonadinae subfamily. J Eukaryot Microbiol. 2000;47:70–75. - PubMed

Substances

LinkOut - more resources