Case report: Acute amebic colitis triggered by colonoscopy: Exacerbation of asymptomatic chronic infection with Entamoeba histolytica accompanied by dysbiosis

Abstract

Recent data show that the gut microbiome plays a role in determining the clinical outcome of Entamoeba histolytica infection. We report the case of a patient who developed recurrent acute amebic colitis (second episode of acute colitis) after colonoscopy. Genotyping of E. histolytica revealed that she developed a second episode of acute amebic colitis with the same genotype as that of the first episode, indicating chronic infection had persisted asymptomatically for > 10 months between the first and second episodes. Analysis of the gut microbiome, in addition to the clinicalfindings, suggested that dysbiosisatcolonoscopy induced the changeinthe clinical form of E.histolytica infection from asymptomatic chronic infection to symptomatic colitis.