Amebic Dysentery 



I. AMEBIC DYSENTERY 



633 



AMOEBA COLI (LOSCH, 1875); AMOEBA DYSENTERIC (COUNCILMAN 



AND LAFLEUR, 1893); ENTAMOEBA HISTOLYTICA (SCHAU- 



DINN, 1903) 



As has been shown, amebas were first found in the human in- 

 testine by Lambl; in dysentery, by Losch, Koch, Gaffky, Kartulis, 

 Osier, Councilman and Lafleur, and many others. The welcome 

 finally accorded to the organisms as excitants of dysentery was 

 sufficiently enthusiastic to compensate for the neglect of a quarter 

 of a century. 



Celli and Fiocca* were the first to study the amebas system- 

 atically and to cultivate them upon artificial media. Councilman 

 and Lafleur pointed out that there were two varieties of amebas 

 which they called Amceba coli and Amceba dysenteriae. The 

 former was supposed to be a harmless commensal, the latter a 

 pathogenic organism and the cause of dysentery. As, however. 



Fig. 258. Amoeba coli in intestinal mucus, with blood-corpuscles and 

 bacteria (Losch). 



Losch had called the organism found in dysentery the Amoeba 

 coli, Stiles declared the nomenclature faulty, and pointed out that 

 Amceba coli, variety dysenteriae, must be the name of the patho- 

 genic form. Schaudinn f reviewed the subject and grouped all of 

 the intestinal amebas under the following: 



I. Chlamydophrys stercorea (Cienkowsky). 

 II. Amceba coli rhizopodia. 



1. Entamceba coli (Losch) (Schaudinn). 



2. Entamceba histolytica (Schaudinn). 

 To these has been since added in 1907: 



Entamceba tetragena (Viereck). 



* "Centralbl. f. Bakt. u. Parasitenk.," 1894, xv, 470. 



f "Arbeiten aus d. Kaiserl. Gesundheitsamte.," 1903, xix, No. 3. 



