A note on indirect hemagglutination (IHA) antibody titers among hospitalized patients in Thailand with amebic liver abscesses

Amebic hepatic abscess is a tropical disease with a wide spectrum of clinical presentations. A retrospective case review was performed on 39 hospitalized patients in Thailand with the diagnosis of amebic liver abscess. A total of 23 men (59%) and 16 women (41%), with a mean age of 44.56 +/- 21.81 years (range, 10 to 88 years), were involved in the study. The average duration of present illness was 7.33 +/- 0.83 days. Abscesses were discovered in the right lobe in 29 patients (74.4%), in the left lobe in 3 patients (7.7%), and in both lobes in 7 patients (17.9%). Thirty patients had single abscesses (76.9%) and 9 patients had multiple abscesses (23.1%). On admission, the average white blood count was 17.37 +/- 6.34 x 1000 WBC/mm3, serum albumin was 2.86 +/- 0.61 g/dL, prothrombin time was 16.52 +/- 5.8 seconds, serum aspartate transaminase (AST) was 92.62 +/- 118.74 U/L, serum alanine transaminase (ALT) was 83.74 +/- 107.84 U/L, serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was 407.68 +/- 343.42 U/L, and serum bilirubin was 2.44 +/- 2.08 g/dL. Average indirect hemagglutination (IHA) titer of the cases was 1:1190.35 +/- 895.42 (range, 1:256 to 2048). Concerning the multiple logistic regression analysis, no significant correlation was found between antibody titer and the other parameters. Of interest, pathogenic organisms were detected in stool in only 2 cases. This study shows the usefulness of serologic study in diagnosis of amebic liver abscess.