Cover image
ON THE COVER:
Illustration of Entamoeba histolytica, a parasitic, amoeboid protozoan. E. histolytica invades and destroys the tissues of the intestines, causing amoebic dysentery and ulceration to the intestinal wall, and may spread to the liver causing abscesses to develop. Humans acquire the infection through ingestion of amoeboid cysts in food or water contaminated with human fecal material. This illustration shows cellular forms and divisions, including the trophozoite form (large, center), and above, the life cycle of E. histolytica starting (counter clockwise) with the mature cyst, excystment and division into four metacysts that will become trophozoites.
Illustration by Jim Dowdalls. Licensed by Clinical Medicine & Research for reproduction from Photo Researchers, Inc. (www.photoresearchers.com). Copyright 2006 Photo Researchers, Inc. All rights reserved.
See related article: Amoebicidal Activity of Milk, Apo-lactoferrin, sIgA and Lysozyem, pp. 106–113.
In this issue of Clinical Medicine & Research, Lesn-Sicairos et al explore the capacity of human milk and its protein components to kill Entamoeba histolytica, a pathogenic, parasitic protozoan that can cause amoebiasis, an illness responsible for at least 100,000 deaths annually throughout the world. Lesn-Sicairos et al provide evidence of the amoebicidal activity of human milk protein components, apo-lactoferrin, sIgA and lysozyme, confirming the importance feeding breast milk to newborns.
