FLOTAC: a promising technique for detecting helminth eggs in human faeces.
There is a tendency to neglect diagnostic issues in the era of 'preventive chemotherapy' in human helminthiases. However, accurate diagnosis cannot be overemphasized for adequate patient management and monitoring of community-based control programmes. Implicit is a diagnostic dilemma: the more effective interventions are in reducing helminth egg excretion, the less sensitive direct parasitological tests become. Here, experiences gained thus far with the FLOTAC technique for diagnosing common soil-transmitted helminth infections are summarized. A single FLOTAC has higher sensitivity than multiple Kato-Katz thick smears in detecting low-intensity infections. Further validation of the FLOTAC technique in different epidemiological settings is warranted, including diagnosis of intestinal schistosomiasis and food-borne trematodiases.
Knopp
Stefanie
S
Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Swiss Tropical Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland. s.knopp@unibas.ch
Glinz
Dominik
D
Rinaldi
Laura
L
Mohammed
Khalfan A
KA
N'Goran
Eliézer K
EK
Stothard
J Russell
JR
Marti
Hanspeter
H
Cringoli
Giuseppe
G
Rollinson
David
D
Utzinger
Jürg
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D007560:Cote d'Ivoire / Q000453:epidemiology; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology*; D005260:Female; D006373:Helminthiasis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006376:Helminths; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010270:Parasite Egg Count / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult