title: Blinded, externally controlled multicenter evaluation of light microscopy and PCR for detection of microsporidia in stool specimens. The Diagnostic Multicenter Study Group on Microsporidia.
abstract: The quality parameters for the detection of microsporidia in identical sets of 50 stool samples were determined for six laboratories where technicians used light microscopy and for six laboratories where technicians used PCR. The average overall sensitivities were 67% (89% for patient samples only) for the PCR laboratories and 54% (80% for patient samples only) for the light microscopy laboratories. Specificities were 98 and 95%, respectively. Differences in results were most apparent between the individual laboratories rather than between the two major methods used.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University of Munich, Germany. rinder@lrz.uni-meunchen.de
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rinder
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Janitschke
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aspöck
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Da Silva
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Deplazes
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Fedorko
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franzen
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Futh
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hünger
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lehmacher
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Molina
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sandfort
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Löscher
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology*; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories; D008853:Microscopy; D016816:Microsporida / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016881:Microsporidiosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity