title: Intra-specimen and day-to-day variations of Fasciola egg counts in human stools.
abstract: Intra-specimen and day-to-day variations of Fasciola egg counts in stools were investigated for 16 cases of established fascioliasis. For each case six Kato slides from a single stool sample were examined daily for 5 consecutive days. The results indicated the presence of significant intra-specimen variations in more than one-third of the examined series, while the inter-specimen variation was almost negligible. The sensitivity of the Kato-Katz test for diagnosing Fasciola infection with three Kato slides from the same specimen or on different days ranged from 96.0%-99.1%. The examination of three Kato smears from a single stool specimen, which is more feasible in field studies, would give an accurate diagnosis of fascioliasis. Used as such, the Kato-Katz technique is highly sensitive in the diagnosis of fascioliasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Tropical Health, High institute of Public Health, Alexandria, Egypt.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: el-Morshedy
authors.forename: A Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Shehab
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaki
authors.forename: H F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Farag
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D015982:Bias; D002648:Child; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005209:Fasciola / Q000502:physiology; D005211:Fascioliasis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology*; D006801:Humans; D010270:Parasite Egg Count / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D015995:Prevalence; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013045:Species Specificity; D013997:Time Factors