Problem in Amoebiasis Diagnosis in Clinical Setting: A Review from Conventional Microscopy to Advanced Molecular Based Diagnosis

It is now well established that Entamoeba moshkovskii and Entamoeba dispar are two distinct nonpathogenic species, but microscopically indistinguishable from the pathogenic species E. histolytica, the causative organism of amoebiasis. Traditionally diagnosis of E. histolytica infection has relied upon microscopic examination of cyst or trophozoite stage in fresh or fixed stool specimens which has several limitations. New approaches to the diagnosis of amoebiasis are based on detection of E. histolytica specific antigen or DNA in stool and other clinical samples using ELISA, PCR and microarray based technique while none are cheap and it is unlikely that they will be in routine use in resource poor disease-endemic areas in the near future. In the era of post genomic, development of faster, sensitive, specific, affordable and reproducible diagnostic tools and their application in resource poor setting with high endemic rates lead to a better understanding of the disease epidemiology in terms of prevalence, morbidity and measures to control the disease.