Amoebiasis
Amoebiasis is an illness caused by parasites - amoebas, to be specific; the parasite responsible is Entamoeba hystolitica.
Amoebiasis is different from other diarrheas because the linings of the large intestine are eaten away by the parasites and thus creating lesions. That’s why there is the presence of blood in stools of amoebic diarrhea. The parasite is also invasive. If left untreated, the parasites may reach the bloodstream and would then invade neighboring organs in the stomach. The most common is the liver - amoebic hepatitis. The lungs, kidneys, heart and even the brain may also be invaded. Our pediatrician has already seen amoebic meningitis, the patient died (the patient had recurrent amoebiasis which started when she was still a baby).
Mode of Transmission
*Hand to mouth.
*Flies which carries the infective cysts on their feet.
*Dust
*Sewage contaminated water
*Poor hygienic food preparation practices
*Poor hygienic toilet practices
As a parent, we must know that aside from hand to mouth transmission, infection from food contaminated with the viable cyst (due to unhygienic preparations, or failure of the food handler to wash her/his hands before preparing food), also from contaminated water and beverage drinks (due to sewage contamination, or unhygienic preparation of the beverages) are more likely to cause this disease.
Symptoms:
*Diarrhea with watery stool. The stool has no offensive smell, in contrast to diarrheas caused by bacteria and viruses. The color is greenish brown, in some cases bloody, or with flecks of blood. Though mostly, the stool has this yellow thick thing like phlegm.
*Fever is also present, and it does not go away even with anti-fever medications. The temperature ranges from 38C to 39C.
*Vague stomach discomfort and pain (especially those with severe cases), and sometimes vomiting (not everyone with amoebiasis vomit).
At the sign of these symptoms, it is important that parents bring their child or the patient in that matter, to the hospital. Amoebiasis cannot be treated by anti-diarrhea medications. Though there is one thing that should be done at home, rehydrate. Rehydration is very important because in any case of diarrhea, the first and foremost threat is dehydration. As I have mentioned, hospitalization is very important with amoebiasis. It is not possible to treat this illness with home medications. Over the counter anti-parasitic medications can’t treat amoebiasis, it may in fact worsen the situation.
What to do to avoid getting sick of it.
*Wash your hands. Wash your children’s hands before eating, after playing, and after coming from school. Wash hands after using the toilet.
*Children love to put their hands in their mouths, so teach your child not to.
*Cook food thoroughly.
*Drink water that you are sure went through quality purification. If this is not possible, boil your drinking water.
*Clean the bathroom and the toilet properly and regularly, use disinfectants.
*And the most important, eat healthy foods. Live a healthy lifestyle. Feed your child with healthy foods. Give them vitamins, fruits and vegetables. Since we cannot assure that everything that we eat is clean, since we are not in control with how all the food that we eat are handled and prepared, the best we could do then is prepare our children’s and our tummies and bodies to be able to fight infections that come our way.
There is also important information that parents should be aware of. Amoebas are transmitted by so-called healthy carriers. These people have amoebas in their tummies, but they do not get sick of it. They pass millions and millions of infective cysts in their feces (stools) everyday. And if they don’t practice hygienic lifestyle, they transmit amoebas through their hands.
My pediatrician has also seen a healthy carrier patient, she is a toddler. Her mother got curious so she had her daughter’s stool examined. To the disbelief of the mother and also our pediatrician, the child’s stool came out positive. The whole family had themselves examined. Treatment of healthy carriers is very much different from those with amoebiasis. And it is also important that healthy carriers get treated because, they may not have diarrhea, but they may, in time, develop amoebic hepatitis or other extra-intestinal amoebiasis.
There was also this one case wherein a newborn was infected and developed diarrhea, again it is unbelievable because the baby was breastfed. The whole family had themselves examined and they were all carriers.
So one more thing that we parents could do is have our children’s stool examined and theirs also, once in every 3 or four months. Especially those that already had infections, regular stool monitoring is important to prevent recurring or extra-intestinal infections.
In every diseases and sickness that pose threat to our health and our children’s, our main shield and fight is strengthen our and our kids’ immune system. Prevention is more important than cure.
