Abstract

Drug-refractory, chronic, recurrent amebiasis is a problem of clinical importance in the Western Hemisphere. The usefulness of the currently available drugs has been indicated and their pharmacological characteristics compared with those of more recently developed agents. The requirements for laboratory evaluation of new agents have been indicated with particular reference to the need for distinguishing indirect action of antibacterial chemicals in vitro and to the use of the naturally infected macaque as the most suitable laboratory animal in which the pathologic condition compares favorably with that of chronic infection in man. As an example, development of the thioarsenites as chemotherapeutic agents in amebiasis is presented, and an evaluation is made of the place of representative antibiotics in the therapeutic regimen of amebiasis.