Increased risk for Entamoeba histolytica infection and invasive amebiasis in HIV seropositive men who have sex with men in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: Incidence of Entamoeba histolytica infection and clinical manifestations and treatment response of invasive amebiasis (IA) in HIV-infected patients have rarely been investigated before.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: At the National Taiwan University Hospital, medical records of HIV-infected patients who received a diagnosis of IA between 1994 and 2005 were reviewed. The incidence of amebiasis was investigated in serial blood and stool samples from 670 and 264 HIV-infected patients, respectively, using serological and specific amebic antigen assays. DNA extracted from stool samples containing E. histolytica were analyzed by PCR, sequenced, and compared. Sixty-four (5.8%) of 1,109 HIV-infected patients had 67 episodes of IA, and 89.1% of them were men having sex with men (MSM). The CD4 count at diagnosis of IA was significantly higher than that of the whole cohort (215 cells/microL vs. 96 cells/microL). Forty episodes (59.7%) were liver abscesses, 52 (77.6%) colitis, and 25 (37.3%) both liver abscesses and colitis. Fever resolved after 3.5 days of metronidazole therapy (range, 1-11 days). None of the patients died. The incidence of E. histolytica infection in MSM was higher than that in other risk groups assessed by serological assays (1.99 per 100 person-years [PY] vs. 0 per 100 PY; p<0.0001) and amebic antigen assays (3.16 per 100 PY vs. 0.68 per 100 PY; p = 0.12). In multiple logistic regression analysis, only MSM was significantly associated with acquisition of E. histolytica infection (adjusted odds ratio, 14.809; p = 0.01). Clustering of E. histolytica isolates by sequencing analyses from geographically-unrelated patients suggested person-to-person transmission.

CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: HIV-infected MSM were at significantly higher risk of amebiasis than patients from other risk groups. Despite immunosuppression, amebic liver abscesses and colitis responded favorably to treatment.