Amebic colitis

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Uncomplicated amebic colitis, which usually manifests as mild dysentery, is rarely fatal. The same is not true of fulminant disease. According to Drs Brooks and Kozarek, “the mortality rate is 40% to 100%” in patients in whom complications demand surgical intervention. Because virtually all patients with symptomatic infection first consult a primary care physician, it is imperative that he or she be familiar with the clinical picture. Only then can the correct diagnosis be made and the proper therapy instituted early enough to prevent the morbidity and mortality that attend fulminant amebic colitis.