Clinical reports relying on microscopic diagnosis give an impression that intestinal amoebiasis isrnvery common in Ethiopia. However, recent species specific PCR-based method had shown littlernor no true infection with Entamoeba histolytica. The present study was conducted to assess thernassociation of diarrheagenic bacteria vis-Ã -vis the Entamoeba trophozoites commonly diagnosedrnas E. histolytica in diarrheal patients. One hundred and fifty diarrheal patients from Selam HealthrnCenter in Gulelie Sub-city and Addis Ketema Propride Clinic in Addis Ababa were recruited in arnstudy conducted between December 2005 and April 2006. Single stool samples were collectedrnfrom the study participants, and inspected macroscopically for consistency, appearance, and thernpresence of gross blood. Wet mount of the stool samples was made to detect the presence of fecalrnleukocytes and red blood cells (RBCs), E. histolytica/E. dispar trophozoites and other intestinalrnparasites. The specimens were further tested for the presence of E. histolytica/E. dispar DNA byrnPCR; for stool antigens of E. histolytica by antigen ELISA; and by stool culture for dirrheagenicrnbacteria. Microscopic observations revealed E. histolytica/E. dispar to be the most commonrnparasite diagnosed (40.7% of the diarrheic patients) followed by Blastocytis hominis (24.7%) andrnGiardia lamblia (12.7%). However, the PCR based method which amplifies short tandemrnrepeating gene sequence on the tRNA confirmed only 10 cases (16.4%) of E. histolytica/E.rndispar. Out of these only two (3.3%) were the pathogenic E. histolytica .The Entamoeba specificrnstool antigen ELISA detected 30 cases (20%) to be E. histolytica /E. dispar. However, only twornof the ELISA positive cases were confirmed by the PCR based method. Of the 150 diarrhealrnpatients, 57(38%) were Shigellae and 1(0.4%) Escherichia coli B. Infection with trophozoites ofrnEntamoeba species showed no clear association with clinical symptoms such as history ofrnbloody-mucoid stools, history of low-grade fever, and microscopic finding of pus cells andrnRBCs(P>0.05). On the other hand, the isolation of Shigellae in patients with these clinicalrnsymptoms was significantly higher (P