Treatment of Asymptomatic Intestinal Entamoeba histolytica Infection

Abstract

To the Editor: Paromomycin and diloxanide furoate are the drugs recommended for the treatment of asymptomatic Entamoeba histolytica infection.1 These agents have been used in clinical practice for more than 30 years. The efficacy of either agent against E. histolytica is reported to be greater than 80 percent,2 although some have suggested that paromomycin is preferable because of a lower cure rate reported with the use of diloxanide furoate in symptomatic patients.3 However, the efficacy of these medications was evaluated before the identification of E. dispar as a separate nonpathogenic species, which is morphologically indistinguishable from E. histolytica and which . . .