A 5 page overview of this single-celled eukaryote, a common parasite among all classes of vertebrates, several invertebrates, and quite possibly a variety of unicellular organisms. This paper provides a morphological description of the organism, an overview of its life history, and a review of its impacts to humans and the treatment methodologies which are employed. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: AM2_PPdysent.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
Although other organisms are most often at play, Infectious diarrhea and dysentery are sometimes the result of the seemingly simple parasite Entamoeba histolytica. Estimates vary
as to how many people this organism infects. This estimate is complicated by the fact that an estimated ninety percent of those infected are asymptomatic (Huston, Haque, and Petri,
1999). Previous estimates of the number of individuals infected averaged around approximately five-hundred million people or one-tenth of the worlds population (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 2002).
More recent knowledge, however, indicates that there are actually two species which have been previously classified as Entamoeba histolytica (Clark, 2002). These two organisms are Entamoeba histolytica and
Entamoeba dispar (Clark, 2002). While Entamoeba histolytica is capable of invading tissue, Entamoeba dispar is not (Clark, 2002). This characterization resulted in previous terminology distinguishing the two organisms as
"pathogenic E. histolytica" and "nonpathogenic E. histolytica", terminology which is still found in the scientific literature (Clark, 2002). It is important to note
the presence of the two species identified above to clarify the true characteristics of Entamoeba histolytica, the subject of this paper. Morphologically the two species are identical. They
can only be separated using isoenzyme, antigen, and/or DNA analysis (Clark, 2002). Entamoeba histolytica is a single celled eukaryote which is a common parasite among all classes of vertebrates,
several invertebrates, and quite possibly a variety of unicellular organisms (Clark, 2002). While there are six species of Entamoeba which can infect humans, it is Entamoeba histolytica which presents the
most concern (Clark, 2002). This organism differentiates itself from other species in the genus in that it is the only one which causes disease in humans (Clark, 2002).