Treatment
There are many kinds of effective drugs. This is just a short overview of a few of the different methods of treatments.
Intestinal Infection: Usually nitroimidazole derivatives are used because they are highly effective against the trophozoite form of the amoeba. Since they have little effect on amoeba cysts, usually this treatment is followed by an agent (such as paromomycin or diloxanide furoate) that acts on the organism in the lumen.
Liver abscess: In addition to targeting organisms in solid tissue, primarily with drugs like metronidazole and chloroquine, treatment of liver abscess must include agents that act in the lumen of the intestine (as in the preceding paragraph) to avoid re-invasion. Surgical drainage is usually not necessary except when rupture is imminent.
Asymptomatic Patients: For asymptomatic patients (otherwise known as carriers, who do not receive symptoms), non endemic areas should be treated by paromomycin, and other treatments include diloxanide furoate and iodoquinol. There have been problems with the use of iodoquinol and iodochlorhydroxyquin, so their use is not recommended. Diloxanide furoate can also be used by mildly symptomatic persons who are just passing cysts.
Read more about this topic: Entamoeba Histolytica
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“The treatment of the incident of the assault upon the sailors of the Baltimore is so conciliatory and friendly that I am of the opinion that there is a good prospect that the differences growing out of that serious affair can now be adjusted upon terms satisfactory to this Government by the usual methods and without special powers from Congress.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)