Laboratory of Microbiology San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2013 Aug 1;7(8):e2344. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002344. Print 2013.
Soil-transmitted helminths and intestinal protozoa infection are widespread in developing countries, yet an accurate diagnosis is rarely performed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the recently developed mini-FLOTAC method and to compare with currently more widely used techniques for the diagnosis of intestinal parasitic infections in different settings.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The study was carried out in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India, and in Bukumbi, Tanzania. A total of 180 pupils from two primary schools had their stool analyzed (n = 80 in Dharamsala and n = 100 in Bukumbi) for intestinal parasitic infections with three diagnostic methods: direct fecal smear, formol-ether concentration method (FECM) and mini-FLOTAC. Overall, 72% of the pupils were positive for any intestinal parasitic infection, 24% carried dual infections and 11% three infections or more. The most frequently encountered intestinal parasites were Entamoeba coli, Entamoeba histolytica/dispar, Giardia intestinalis, hookworm, (and Schistosoma mansoni, in Tanzania). Statistically significant differences were found in the detection of parasitic infections among the three methods: mini-FLOTAC was the most sensitive method for helminth infections (90% mini-FLOTAC, 60% FECM, and 30% direct fecal smear), whereas FECM was most sensitive for intestinal protozoa infections (88% FECM, 70% direct fecal smear, and 68% mini-FLOTAC).
CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: We present the first experiences with the mini-FLOTAC for the diagnosis of intestinal helminths and protozoa. Our results suggest that it is a valid, sensitive and potentially low-cost alternative technique that could be used in resource-limited settings--particularly for helminth diagnosis.
土壤传播的蠕虫和肠道原生动物感染在发展中国家广泛存在，但很少进行准确诊断。本研究旨在评估最近开发的 mini-FLOTAC 方法，并将其与目前更广泛使用的技术在不同环境下诊断肠道寄生虫感染进行比较。
方法/主要发现：本研究在印度喜马偕尔邦的达兰萨拉和坦桑尼亚的布库姆比进行。共有 180 名小学生（达兰萨拉 80 名，布库姆比 100 名）接受了三种诊断方法的粪便分析，以检测肠道寄生虫感染：直接粪便涂片、福尔马林乙醚浓缩法（FECM）和 mini-FLOTAC。总体而言，72%的学生存在任何肠道寄生虫感染，24%的学生携带双重感染，11%的学生携带三种或更多感染。最常见的肠道寄生虫是结肠内阿米巴、溶组织内阿米巴/迪斯帕拉、肠道内贾第虫、钩虫和（坦桑尼亚的曼氏血吸虫）。三种方法检测寄生虫感染的差异具有统计学意义：mini-FLOTAC 是检测蠕虫感染最敏感的方法（90% mini-FLOTAC、60% FECM 和 30%直接粪便涂片），而 FECM 是检测肠道原生动物感染最敏感的方法（88% FECM、70%直接粪便涂片和 68% mini-FLOTAC）。
结论/意义：我们首次报道了 mini-FLOTAC 用于诊断肠道蠕虫和原生动物的经验。我们的结果表明，它是一种有效的、敏感的、具有潜在成本效益的替代技术，可在资源有限的环境中使用，特别是用于诊断蠕虫感染。
