Correspondence should be sent to:
Dr. C. Graham Clark, Department of Medical Parasitology, London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, England, G.B.
OR: Dra. Martha Espinosa Cantellano, Departamento de Patología
Experimental, CINVESTAV- IPN, Aptdo. Postal 14-740, CP 07000 México
D.F., México
The XIII Seminar on Amebiasis was held January 29-31, 1997 in Mexico City with an unprecedented attendance from both national and international institutions. During the 3-day meeting, a tight schedule was kept and 58 oral and 71 poster presentations were made. Abstracts of all presentations can be found in a special issue of the Archives of Medical Research (volume 28, pages 1-329, 1997). The security services at El Colegio Nacional reported an attendance of over 500 people every day. Of these, a total of 377 registrations were filed: 121 from presenting authors, 71 from co-authors of papers presented at the meeting, and 185 from the general public. Most registrations corresponded to people living in Mexico City (249), followed by overseas participants (66), and by persons travelling from different states of Mexico (62). Congratulations to all for a fruitful meeting!
In Mexico City, the following institutions were represented (registrations):
Overseas participants came from 17 countries (registrations):
USA (26)
Germany (7)
England, Sweden (4 each)
Israel, Canada, France, Nicaragua (3 each)
Austria, Brazil, Venezuela, Korea (2 each)
Bangladesh, Belgium, India, Japan, South Africa (1 each)
People travelled from the following Mexican states to attend the Seminar (registrations):
Puebla (14)
Morelos (13)
Guanajuato (9)
Estado de Mexico (6)
Chihuahua, Jalisco (2 each)
Sinaloa (1)
On the 28th and 29th of January immediately prior to the XIII Seminar on Amebiasis a meeting sponsored by WHO, PAHO & UNESCO took place the purpose of which was to examine the recent evidence for the existence of two species within what had been called Entamoeba histolytica and to make recommendations based on their conclusions. Seventeen experts from around the world along with Dr. Lorenzo Savioli, representing the World Health Organization, and Dr. Gabriel Schmunis, representing the Pan American Health Organization, were in attendance. The resulting document, which was unanimously approved by all participants, will be published in a WHO Weekly Bulletin in the near future. Some of the results of the meeting are as follows:
The existence of the two species, E. histolytica and E. dispar, was recognized and the name E. histolytica should in future be used only in reference to the species capable of causing invasive disease (formerly known as `pathogenic E. histolytica'). When differentiation between the two species is not possible for technical reasons the infection should be reported as `E. histolytica/E. dispar'. The definition of amoebiasis is unchanged and refers to infection with E. histolytica (in the new sense) with or without clinical manifestations.
The participants also identified several priority areas for amebiasis research. These included improved methods for specific diagnosis of E. histolytica using technologies appropriate for developing countries, collection of accurate prevalence data, especially on asymptomatic E. histolytica infections, and molecular epidemiology studies. Recommendations for approaches to treatment were also made.
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