Khurana Sumeeta, Gur Renu, Gupta Neha
Department of Medical Parasitology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
Department of Microbiology, Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College & Hospital, Rohini, Delhi, India.
Indian J Med Microbiol. 2021 Oct-Dec;39(4):413-416. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmmb.2021.10.001. Epub 2021 Oct 19.
Diarrhea is among the top ten global causes of death. Chronic diarrhea may have destructive impact on physical and mental health of patients and is also associated with high risk of mortality in children. Parasitic intestinal infections remain an important cause of chronic diarrhea especially in the developing part of the world.
To study the parasitic causes of chronic diarrhea and highlight the challenges faced in the diagnosis of chronic diarrhea caused due to parasitic infections.
Due to non-specific symptoms, insensitive available diagnostic techniques, asymptomatic carriage and transmission, recurrent infections in endemic areas, pose a challenge for diagnosis of the parasitic infections and thus delay the treatment. Conventional techniques like microscopy, though cheaper are not very sensitive. Advanced techniques like molecular methods are more sensitive but expensive and are not readily available in resource limited settings. Newer cost-effective diagnostic techniques with higher sensitivity and specificity are required to detect the infectious agent and for appropriate management.
腹泻是全球十大死因之一。慢性腹泻可能对患者的身心健康产生破坏性影响，并且还与儿童的高死亡率相关。肠道寄生虫感染仍然是慢性腹泻的一个重要原因，特别是在世界上的发展中地区。
研究慢性腹泻的寄生虫病因，并强调在诊断由寄生虫感染引起的慢性腹泻时所面临的挑战。
由于症状不具特异性、现有诊断技术不敏感、无症状携带和传播、流行地区的反复感染，对寄生虫感染的诊断构成了挑战，从而延误了治疗。像显微镜检查这样的传统技术虽然成本较低，但不太敏感。像分子方法这样的先进技术更敏感，但成本高昂，并且在资源有限的环境中不易获得。需要更新的具有更高灵敏度和特异性的成本效益高的诊断技术来检测感染病原体并进行适当的管理。
