Amoebiasis: Often mistaken as normal Diarrhea but Deadly

Please allow me to share my personal experience and serve as a warning to other people specially to mothers on which they usually assumed that their infant children are having diarrhea's due to the appearance of milk teeth and realized when its too late already. 


Here is the account of my experience for a period of 5 days: 


1st day: I discharge/go to CR 7 times.(I thought it was just a normal diarrhea since I usually have diarrhea's when I am having an overnight online computer games escapades) - Took 3 diatabs, 3 lomotil, & Drink yakult.


2nd day: Same status with 1st day. Able to consult with a quack doctor as per advice by my auntie. 


3rd day: *Half day on the Comfort Room(discharge 15 times); unable to eat or drink since the more I eat or drink, the more I discharge. Difficulty on walking. Visible weight loss reflected on the face(loss 15 kilos after the check-up; from my normal weight 75 kilos to 60 kilos). Decided to be check in the hospital late afternoon. During medical test, first time to experienced vomiting(based on the 3 days time span). The doctor decided that I am going to be admitted in the hospital since I am already severely dehydrated. My hands and feet tends to move by itself and harden.  
            *During the admission in the hospital: from 6pm to 12 midnight; consumed 12 bottles of normal dextrose and 6 bottles of dextrose with potassium. Catheter was also administered to drain urine from my urinary bladder(one of the most painful experienced that I have encountered). Took Kitnos and Metronidazole tablets as per doctors advice.


4th day: *Normal dextrose is still present(happy that the catheter was already removed ;-P ). Still maintaining Kitnos and Metronidazole. Able to eat soft foods and somehow retain strength enough to go to the CR by myself. Doctor assigned to me informed me that I was bless that I was admitted before its too late since some of the children that was admitted simultaneously with me died from severe dehydration and their young bodies unable to cope the viral infection.


5th day: Discharge from the hospital and pay Php 10,000 for the hospital bills. Travel back to my province in Ormoc City, Leyte. Still maintaining Metronidazole for another 3 days. 


Message to all Mothers: If your child is having a severe diarrhea, please don't assume that it is normal specially during the appearance of their milk teeth. Some of the children that have been admitted with me during the amoeba outbreak in Mandaue City, Cebu have died since they were admitted too late. Moreover, I'm not against with herbal/quack doctors or faith healers but on my case, I was told that some kind of spirit is visiting or hurting me and administer me bottles of water with paper floating in it with hand written messages or some kind of their own prayers but with God's blessing and well, I was guided to decide for check-up in the hospital and it was almost too late. It could have cost me my life.


In all of this experience, I would like to offer this prayer to our Lord God Jesus Christ whom guided me and provided me the chance to lived:


Lord, thank you for everything. Thank you for my life, the life of all my family members and love ones, the life of all my relatives, the life of all my friends, for all our life. I know, without your grace, we are nothing oh Lord. Thank you for your blessings, grace and protection. Thank you, Thank you Lord.


Lord, please guide its one of us to decide on the right decision specially if life is at stake. Protect us always and keep us safe. Provide us with long life and good health. 


All this we declare in the name of our savior Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen














Terms Used:


Amoebiasis, or Amebiasis, refers to infection caused by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. The term Entamoebiasis is occasionally seen but is no longer in use; it refers to the same infection. Likewise amoebiasis is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to infection with other amoebae, but strictly speaking it should be reserved for Entamoeba histolytica infection. A gastrointestinal infection that may or may not be symptomatic and can remain latent in an infected person for several years, amoebiasis is estimated to cause 70,000 deaths per year world wide. Symptoms can range from mild diarrhea to dysentery with blood and mucus in the stool.


dextrose [dek´strōs]

older chemical name for d-glucose (see glucose); the term dextrose continues to be used to refer to glucose solutions administered intravenously for fluid or nutrient replacement.

catheter (pronounced /ˈkæθɪtər/) is a tube that can be inserted into a body cavity, duct, or vessel. Catheters thereby allow drainage, administration of fluids or gases, or access by surgical instruments. The process of inserting a catheter is catheterization. In most uses, a catheter is a thin, flexible tube ("soft" catheter), though in some uses, it is a larger, solid ("hard") catheter. A catheter left inside the body, either temporarily or permanently, may be referred to as an indwelling catheter. A permanently inserted catheter may be referred to as a permcath (originally a trademark).

urinary bladder is the organ that collects urine excreted by the kidneys before disposal by urination. A hollow^[1] muscular, and distensible (or elastic) organ, the bladder sits on the pelvic floor. Urine enters the bladder via the ureters and exits via the urethra.

dehydration (hypohydration) is defined as the excessive loss of body fluid.


quack doctor is a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, or qualifications he or she does not possess. Fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill.

Dental x-rays linked to common brain tumor

X-radiation (composed of X-rays) is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz (3×10¹⁶ Hz to 3×10¹⁹ Hz) and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma rays. In many languages, X-radiation is called Röntgen radiation, after Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who is usually credited as its discoverer, and who had named it X-radiation to signify an unknown type of radiation. Correct spelling of X-ray(s) in the English language includes the variants x-ray(s) and X ray(s). XRAY is used as the phonetic pronunciation for the letter x.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study suggests people who had certain kinds of dental X-rays in the past may be at an increased risk for meningioma, the most commonly diagnosed brain tumor in the U.S.

The findings cannot prove that radiation from the imaging caused the tumors, and the results are based on people who were likely exposed to higher levels of radiation during dental X-rays than most are today.

"It's likely that the exposure association we're seeing here is past exposure, and past exposure levels were much higher," said Dr. Elizabeth Claus, the study's lead author and a professor at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.

Claus and her colleagues write in the journal Cancer that dental X-rays are the most common source of exposure to ionizing radiation -- which has been linked to meningiomas in the past -- but most research on the connection is based on people who were exposed to atomic bombs or received radiation therapy.

There have been some studies that looked at dental X-rays, but they were from years ago and included fewer people than the current study, Claus noted. Still, they were generally in agreement with the new findings.

For her study, Claus' team recruited 1,433 people diagnosed with intracranial meningioma -- a tumor that forms in the tissues lining the brain -- between May 2006 and April 2011. All of the participants were diagnosed when they were between 20 and 79 years old and they were all from Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina or the Houston or San Francisco Bay areas.

For comparison, the researchers also followed 1,350 people who were similar in age, sex and state of residence as the study group, but who had not been diagnosed with a tumor.

The study looked at how often people had three different types of dental X-rays. They included a focused image of one area, a number of images of the full mouth and a single panoramic view of the entire mouth. These are known in dentistry parlance as bitewing, full-mouth and panorex films, respectively.

Each person was interviewed by someone trained to administer a questionnaire that asked about demographic details, family history of cancer, pregnancy and medical history. The interviewers also asked -- among other things -- about the person's history of dental work and the number of times they had the three types of dental x-rays taken throughout their life.

The researchers found that those diagnosed with meningiomas were more than twice as likely as the comparison group to report ever having had bitewing images taken.

And regardless of the age when the bitewings were taken, those who had them yearly or more frequently were at between 40 percent and 90 percent higher risk at all ages to be diagnosed with a brain tumor.

To put that in perspective, Dr. Paul Pharoah, a cancer researcher at the University of Cambridge said in a statement the results would mean an increase in lifetime risk of intracranial meningioma in the U.K. from 15 out of every 10,000 people to 22 in 10,000 people.

Panoramic X-rays taken at a young age, especially if done yearly or more often before age 10, also raised the risk of meningiomas by up to five times.

There was no association between full-mouth X-rays and the tumors, although the authors note they saw a trend similar to that seen for the bitewing X-rays.

The lack of association with full-mouth X-rays led one expert to question the connection.

"They found a small risk (from) a pair of bitewings, but not a full mouth series, which is multiple bitewings. That inconsistency is impossible to understand to me," said Dr. Alan Lurie, president of the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology.

Lurie also echoed Claus' caution that radiation levels from dental X-rays when some of the participants were younger was much greater than is used now.

He does warn, however, patients shouldn't assume it's fine for the dentist to take X-rays.
"They should ask why are (dentists) taking this image and what is the benefit to me," he said.

The American Dental Association put out a statement in response to the study noting that the interviews relied on participants' memories of how often they had different types of X-rays years earlier.

The statement added, "The ADA's long-standing position is that dentists should order dental X-rays for patients only when necessary for diagnosis and treatment. Since 1989, the ADA has published recommendations to help dentists ensure that radiation exposure is as low as reasonably achievable."

Dr. Sanjay Mallya, an assistant professor the UCLA School of Dentistry in Los Angeles, said that patients should be concerned whenever they are exposed to radiation, but "it's important to emphasize that this concern should not mean that we shouldn't get X-rays at all."

According to the researchers, "while dental X-rays are an important tool in well selected patients, efforts to moderate exposure to (ionizing radiation) to the head is likely to be of benefit to patients and health care providers alike."