The Rat a Carrier of a Dysenteric Ameba

The purpose of this communication is to record observations incriminating the rat (Mus norvegicus) of a possible new rôle in the dissemination of disease, the details of which go to show that: The rat (Mus norvegicus) suffers from spontaneous amebic dysentery similar to that occurring in man. This apparently occurs in endemic foci in Charleston, S. C. The ameba found in the cases of rat infection here reported are indistinguishable from Endamoeba histolytica. This rat may be infected with Endamoeba histolytica by allowing it to eat human feces containing this parasite. The disease thus produced is practically the same as that occurring in man and from spontaneous infection in rats. This infection, spontaneous and experimental, may be transmitted from the infected to the healthy rat by close association, that is, living, eating and drinking together. The rat is a possible and probable disseminator of dysenteric amebas pathogenic for man. The