Use of Occult Blood Detection Cards for Real-Time PCR-Based Diagnosis of Schistosoma Mansoni Infection.

Autor: Mirjam Schunk, Seleshi Kebede Mekonnen, Beyene Wondafrash, Carolin Mengele, Erna Fleischmann, Karl-Heinz Herbinger, Jaco J Verweij, Christof Geldmacher, Gisela Bretzel, Thomas Löscher, Ahmed Zeynudin
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 9, p e0137730 (2015)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137730
Popis: In Schistosoma mansoni infection, diagnosis and control after treatment mainly rely on parasitological stool investigations which are laborious and have limited sensitivity. PCR methods have shown equal or superior sensitivity but preservation and storage methods limit their use in the field. Therefore, the use of occult blood detection cards (fecal cards) for easy sampling and storage of fecal samples for further PCR testing was evaluated in a pilot study.Stool specimens were collected in a highly endemic area for S. mansoni in Ethiopia and submitted in an investigator-blinded fashion to microscopic examination by Kato-Katz thick smear as well as to real-time PCR using either fresh frozen stool samples or stool smears on fecal cards which have been stored at ambient temperature for up to ten months.Out of 55 stool samples, 35 were positive by microscopy, 33 and 32 were positive by PCR of frozen samples and of fecal card samples, respectively. When microscopy was used as diagnostic "gold standard", the sensitivity of PCR on fresh stool was 94.3% (95%-CI: 86.6; 100) and on fecal cards 91.4% (95%-CI: 82.2; 100).The use of fecal cards proved to be a simple and useful method for stool collection and prolonged storage prior to PCR based diagnosis of S. mansoni infection. This technique may be a valuable approach for large scale surveillance and post treatment assessments.
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