Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease (Jun 2018)

A 12-Year Retrospective Study of Invasive Amoebiasis in Western Sydney: Evidence of Local Acquisition

  • Ana Domazetovska,
  • Rogan Lee,
  • Chandra Adhikari,
  • Matthew Watts,
  • Nicole Gilroy,
  • Damien Stark,
  • Shobini Sivagnanam

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed3030073
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3, no. 3
p. 73

Abstract

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In Australia, amoebiasis is thought to occur in travellers, immigrants from endemic areas, and among men who have sex with men. Prevalence of amoebiasis in communities with immigrants from Entamoeba histolytica-endemic countries is unknown. The present study is a retrospective case series analysis of patients with laboratory-confirmed amoebiasis from Western Sydney Local Health District, Australia, between years 2005 and 2016. Forty-nine patients with amoebiasis were identified, resulting in an estimated annual incidence of up to 1.1 cases per 100,000 adults. Many were born in Australia (15/47) and India (12/47). Three patients (3/37) had no history of overseas travel, two others had not travelled to an endemic country, and an additional two had a very remote history of overseas travel; one died of fulminant amoebic colitis. Three patients (3/16) were employed in the food industry and one had a history of colonic irrigation in an Australian ‘wellness clinic’. Patients had invasive amoebiasis with either liver abscess (41/48) or colitis (7/48), diagnosed most commonly by serology. Invasive procedures were common, including aspiration of liver abscess (28/41), colonoscopy (11/49), and partial hepatectomy (1/49). Although rare, local acquisition of amoebiasis occurs in Western Sydney and contributes to significant morbidity and hospital admissions.

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