BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies carried out using culture or microscopy in most of the @entity8016 endemic developing countries, yielded confusing results since none of these could differentiate the pathogenic @entity2330 from the non-pathogenic @entity22390 and Entamoeba moshkovskii. The Northeastern part of India is a hot spot of @entity281 since the climatic conditions are most conducive for the @entity281 and so far no systemic study has been carried out in this region. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Following a cross-sectional study designed during the period 2011-2014, a total of 1260 fecal samples collected from the Northeast Indian population were subjected to microscopy, fecal culture and a sensitive and specific DNA dot blot screening assay developed in our laboratory targeting the Entamoeba spp. Further species discrimination using PCR assay performed in microscopy, culture and DNA dot blot screening positive samples showed @entity2330 an overall prevalence rate of 11.1%, 8.0% and 13.7% respectively. In addition, @entity281 rates of nonpathogenic @entity22390 and E. moshkovskii were 11.8% (95% CI = 10.2, 13.8) and 7.8% (95% CI = 6.4, 9.4) respectively. The spatial distributions of @entity281 were 18.2% (107/588) of Assam, 11.7% (23/197) of Manipur, 10.2% (21/207) of Meghalaya, and 8.2% (22/268) of Tripura states. Association study of the disease with demographic features suggested poor living condition (OR = 3.21; 95% CI = 1.83, 5.63), previous history of @entity281 (OR = 3.18; 95% CI = 2.09, 4.82) and unhygienic toilet facility (OR = 1.79; 95% CI = 1.28, 2.49) as significant risk factors for @entity8016 . @entity1 in age group <15 yr, @entity1 having lower levels of education, and daily laborers exhibited a higher @entity281 rate. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Despite the importance of molecular diagnosis of @entity8016 , molecular epidemiological data based on a large sample size from endemic countries are rarely reported in the literature. Improved and faster method of diagnosis employed here to dissect out the pathogenic from the nonpathogenic species would help the clinicians to prescribe the appropriate anti-amoebic drug.

Molecular Epidemiology of XXXX : A Cross-Sectional Study among North East Indian Population.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['participants', 'Children'] @entity22390 :: ('46681', 'Species') :: ['Entamoeba dispar', 'E. dispar'] @entity2330 :: ('5759', 'Species') :: ['E. histolytica', 'Entamoeba histolytica'] @entity281 :: ('MESH:D007239', 'Disease') :: ['infection in family member', 'infection'] @entity8016 :: ('MESH:D000562', 'Disease') :: ['amoebiasis']
@entity8016 :: (MESH:D000562,Disease) :: ['Amoebiasis']
