Comparison of methods for the detection of microfilariae of Wuchereria bancrofti in Western Samoa.
The 1 ml nuclepore filtration technique (NP method), 60 c.mm finger-prick or venous blood smear method and the counting chamber method were compared for their effectiveness in detecting microfilariae. The loss of microfilariae by the NP method was small enough to be disregarded. The 60 c.mm blood smear method was shown to be as efficient as the 60 c.mm NP method, when using finger-prick blood. The finger-prick blood contained 32% more microfilariae than venous blood when compared by the 60 c.mm blood smear method. Probably reflecting this difference of mf count between finger-prick and venous blood, 1 ml NP method using venous blood detected only 12.4 times more microfilariae than 60 c.mm NP method using finger-prick blood, despite the fact that the former requires 16.7 times more blood than the latter. No difference of mf count was shown between the 60 c.mm blood smear and 60 c.mm counting chamber methods, when using finger-prick blood.
D000818:Animals; D001769:Blood / Q000469:parasitology*; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection; D005368:Filariasis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D014905:Independent State of Samoa; D008842:Microfilariae; D008851:Micropore Filters; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D014957:Wuchereria; D014958:Wuchereria bancrofti