Entamoeba polecki Infection in France

Abstract

We read with considerable interest the report by Gay and coauthors on Entamoeba polecki infection in South east Asian refugees, which was published in the August issue of the Proceedings (pages 523 to 530). We would like to correct an erroneous statement that appeared in the discussion of that article. The authors stated that E. polecki was identified for the first time in Strasbourg, France, in 1982. 1 In 1980, we 2 published a case of E. polecki infection in a 53-year-old Briton woman who had never left France. She lived on a farm with pigs and was the only person in the family to experience such an infection. Cysts definitely disappeared from the feces after administration of two regimens of metronidazole (250 mg four times a day for 10 days and 500 mg four times a day for 14 days); this outcome supports the results of Gay and colleagues. In rare cases, E. polecki may be a pathogen for humans, attributable to domestic animals. We regret that our case was not reported in the references of the Proceedings article by Gay and associates.

Entamoeba polecki as a cause of human infection

“…The other sporadic case reports of E. polecki have been documented in Venezuela [14,15], Czechoslovakia [1], France [16,17] and Australia [18]. The presence of sporadic cases all over the world, including the developed countries, confirms the feasibility of zoonotic transmission of the parasite.…”

Case Report: Cervicovaginal Co-Colonization with Entamoeba gingivalis and Entamoeba polecki in Association with an Intrauterine Device

“…16 Cases of E. polecki colonizing the intestinal tract of humans in developed countries have been sporadically reported, often from people having a historical association with pigs. 17,18 Stensvold et al recently described a diagnostic PCR assay and 29 cases of human E. polecki infection over a 12-year period in Denmark, including some without recent travel history. 13 In summary, we present uterine co-colonization with the oral amoeba E. gingivalis and the intestinal amoeba E. polecki.…”

Towards the Establishment of a Porcine Model to Study Human Amebiasis

“…In wild boars, the prevalence of E. polecki and E. suis is quite important (17% and 8%, respectively) and these animals are the reservoir of these species [13] . However, it is not clear yet if E. polecki is pathogenic for pigs and humans [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] . When man and pig are living in close association with poor sanitation, pig to man transmission of E. polecki is considered to be the most likely source of human infection [15] .…”