Abstract
IN Durban there is a reversal of the customary incidence of amœbiasis. It is generally stated that an indigenous population is less susceptible to this disease, but in Durban the native African is much more liable than the European or Indian to acute, fulminating amœbic dysentery. In Europeans the condition is usually chronic, with an accent on the vague manifestations. When there is dysentery in Europeans it is usually of the 'walking' type, whereas in Africans the patient is prostrate. Examination of the stool in African cases shows the cytology of an acute bacillary dysentery, without macrophages, but with myriads of large, actively motile, hœmatophagous trophozoites of E. histolytica. In fact, as many as 150 parasites have been counted in a single high-power field. The amœbæe are so motile that they are streaked out often with a tail of dragging detritus. The customary distinction between ecto- and endoplasm is not clearly seen in fresh preparations, for the granular material moves into a pseudopod almost as quickly as this is formed, and it is only in older specimens that clear ectoplasm is obvious.
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ELSDON-DEW, R. Amœbiasis in Durban. Nature 156, 118 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/156118a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/156118a0
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