An evaluation of the modified agar plate method for diagnosis of Strongyloides stercoralis.

An examination of 320 random stool samples from patients aged 7-60 years in Kafr-Sakr Hospital, was done to compare the efficacy of modified agar plate method to traditional method for diagnosis of Strongyloides stercoralis infection. Out of 320 cases examined 27 were positive for strongyloidiasis by all means. The traditional methods detected 37% and 48.1% from the positive cases by single and repeated 3 days examination respectively. The modified agar plate detected 70.3% and 96.2% among positive cases by single and 3 days examination respectively. The modified agar plate was twice efficient than the traditional methods. Precautions taken to obtain the best result were discussed. Considering the other advantages of this technique, it was concluded that it may eventually become the test of choice in diagnosis of strongyloidiasis.