(*Presented at the 9th Annual Convention of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Disease, Century

The sensitivity and usefulness of indirect immunofluorescence test (IIFT) for diagnosis of extraintestinal amoebiasis, dysentery and unconfirmed cases were studied. A positivity rate of about 97 % in sera of confirmed cases of liver abscess showed that the IIFT is a sensitive and reliable test for extraintestinal amoebiasis. The test gave 67% positive reactions on sera from known amoebic dysentery patients. The test is not very sensitive for amoebic dysentery. From unconfirmed cases suspected of intestinal and extraintestinal amoebiasis, 40 % gave positive reactions to specific E. histolytica antigen. These patients were treated. The treatment improved almost all cases. The test was found also to be useful in eliminating amoebiasis as a cause of their condition. The number of males with amoebic liver abscess was higher than the number of females. The study showed the usefulness of IIFT in diagnosing extraintestinal amoebiasis and strongly recommends the inclusion of a reliable and sensitive serological test in the diagnosis of extraintestinal amoebiasis. Seroepidemiology for amoebiasis in various races living in Meru, Selangor and in Orang Asli from Gombak showed that Orang Asli population had the highest percentage (9.7%) of seropositive individuals followed by Malays (7.2%), and Indians (5.4%). The Chinese showed only 3.6 % seropositivity rate showed the same pattern but a lower rate of prevalence in the various races. [Phil J Microbiol Infect Dis 1986; 15(2):48-52] Key Words: Entamoeba histolytica, amebiasis; dysentery, indirect immunofluorescence tes