Less commonly recognized clinical features of amebiasis.

Among the less commonly recognized clinical manifestations of intestinal and hepatic amebiasis are vague abdominal distress in the absence of diarrhea, symptoms like those of peptic ulcer, and symptoms of a kind that may be ascribed to psychoneurosis. Hepatic amebiasis may be confused with other diseases affecting areas above or below the right diaphragm, such as cholecystitis, viral hepatitis, pneumonia or pleurisy. Adequate therapy in every case must include a course of a drug effective against hepatic involvement (chloroquine or emetine) and a drug effective against intestinal involvement (Diodoquin, Milibis, or carbarsone). Even in the absence of positive results of stool examinations, a course of antiamebic therapy is always justified as a diagnostic and therapeutic measure.