Prevalence of Amebiasis among Histologically confirmed colitis patients

ABSTRACT Background and study aim: Amebiasis is a prevalent infection worldwide and associated with colitis that may mimic different types of colitis. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of amebiasis among patients with endoscopically and histologically confirmed colitis among Egyptian patients. Patients and Methods: This study was conducted in the period from June 2017 to March 2018. Patients in the final analysis were divided into 2 groups according to their histopathologic features: Group I: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients comprised 60, 49 patients diagnosed as ulcerative colitis (UC) and 11 patients diagnosed as Crohn’s disease (CD). Group II: Non-specific colitis. Comprised a total of 100 patients. Results The prevalence of Entamoeba histolytica cysts and trophozoits among the study patients was 9.37% (15/160). They were 11 patients with IBD (6.87%) cases and 4 patients with non- specific colitis (2.5%). Patients with non- specific colitis are younger in age, had less blood levels of CRP and lower prevalence rates of amebiasis when compared with IBD patients. When patients with IBD were compared as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease it seem that the younger age CD did not show different prevalence rates of amebiasis when compared with UC (P value 1). Conclusions: The prevalence of amebiasis in histologically confirmed colitis is 9.37% (15/160). They were 11 patients with IBD (6.87%) cases and 4 patients with non- specific colitis (2.5%). Regarding IBD the prevalence of amebiasis was 11 patients/out of 60 (18.3%) and prevalence was higher in ulcerative colitis when compared with Crohn’s disease with figure of 9 patients (15%) and 2 patients (3.3%) respectively. Further studies are needed to clarify the impact of amebiais on the course of IBD and non-specific colitis.