38 HUMAN INTESTINAL PROTOZOA IN THE NEAR EAST 



(2) The examination of a single sample from any individual for 

 intestinal protozoa gives a result which is far from reliable. In a 

 series of cases examined with a view to the discovery of the error, 

 the number of E. histolytica infections resulting from repeated 

 examinations were three times as great as the result obtained at 

 the first examination. If, however, the protozoal organism is the 

 actual cause of any intestinal trouble at the time of examination it 

 is usually present in large numbers and is rarely missed on the first 

 examination. 



(3) Amongst 1,979 healthy men in camps 106 were found to be 

 carriers of E. histolytica, giving a percentage of 5'3. Of these, 

 1,383 had served on the Peninsula as well as in Egypt, and of them 

 246 gave a history of previous dysentery, giving a percentage of 

 carriers of 6'5, while 1,137 gave no such a history and there was 

 only a percentage of carriers of 4'5. Of 568 men who had served 

 only in Egypt, and who gave no history of previous dysentery, the 

 percentage of carriers was the same, namely, 4'5. 



(4) Amongst the 1,979 healthy British troops examined in 

 Alexandria, the percentage of protozoal infections generally was 

 lower than amongst convalescents from dysentery and other 

 intestinal troubles examined in Alexandria and London. 



(5) The commonest protozoan found in healthy British troops 

 in Egypt was E. coli (20 per cent.), E. histolytica came next (5'3 

 per cent.), and then Lamblia intestinalis (4*8 per cent.)- Tricho- 

 monas intestinalis and Tetramitus mesnili were found with equal 

 frequency (I'l per cent.). E. nana, a new entamceba, was fairly 

 common (0*5 per cent.), while iodine cysts occurred frequently 

 (3'0). These figures are all subject to the error involved in the 

 single examination method. 



(6) An examination of 328 convalescents from various diseases 

 (chiefly dysentery or other intestinal disorder) in the Mustapha 

 Convalescent Depot gave percentages of infections very similar to 

 those obtained in the examination of a similar series of cases in 

 England in 1915. The percentages were generally higher than 

 amongst the healthy troops. 



(7) An examination of 961 cases admitted to the Orwa-el-Waska 

 Section of the 19th General Hospital between January and July, 

 1916, showed a lower percentage of E. histolytica and E. coli 

 infections than amongst the healthy and convalescent men in 

 camps. The flagellate infections (lamblia, trichomonas and 

 tetramitus), however, were higher. This is explicable on the 



