[Chronic recurrent intestinal amebiasis in Israel (author's transl)].

Abdominal pain, nausea, flatulence and diarrhea are the main clinical symptoms in chronic amebiasis; diarrhea and constipation may alternate in many cases, whereas constipation alone does occur only rarely. These symptoms may persist over years, with long asymptomatic intervals. In most cases cysts of entameba histolytica can be demonstrated in the feces, accompanied rather often by dientameba fragilis in Israel. 835 carriers of entameba histolytica were found among our patients between 1968 and 1974. Patients exhibiting 3 of the above mentioned clinical symptoms and having entameba histolytica in the stools are defined to be suffering from chronic recurrent amebiasis; 371 (= 44%) of our patients could be classified in this group. In spite of the fact, that the number of cases of acute amebiasis and its complications in Israel has been reduced considerably in the past, chronic amebiasis continues to be a clinical and epidemiological problem, its incidence being scarcely diminished.