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Ineffectiveness of TF-Test® and Coproplus® Methods in Strongyloides stercoralis Infection Diagnosis

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Abstract

Purpose

S. stercoralis diagnosis is currently performed by parasitological methods, mainly by Baermann–Moraes (BM), although Agar Plate Culture (APC) presents a higher sensitivity. New techniques, such as TF-Test® and Coproplus® have been suggested as more practical alternatives. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of TF-Test® and Coproplus®, compared with APC, BM and Spontaneous Sedimentation (SS) methods.

Methods

One-hundred and forty male alcoholic patients, who provided three stools samples collected on alternate days, were included in this study. The most frequently found parasite was S. stercoralis, 20% (28/140), and the most sensitive method was APC, 96.4% (27/28), followed by BM, 89.3% (25/28) and SS, 57.1% (16/28). TF-Test® and Coproplus® presented a sensitivity of 46.4 (13/28) and 39.3% (11/28), respectively. In samples with a parasitic load of 1–10 larvae/g of feces, which occurred in 39.3% (11/28) of the infected patients, both the TF-Test® and Coproplus® methods demonstrated sensitivities of 18.2% (2/11), while APC and BM methods reached a sensitivity of 100% (11/11) (p < 0.05). For other intestinal helminth infections, TF-Test® and Coproplus® sensitivities were 22.2 (4/18) and 11.1% (2/18), respectively, this being lower than the SS, 66.7% (12/18) (p < 0.05). On the other hand, for protozoa infection diagnosis, TF-Test® and Coproplus® presented the highest sensitivities, 62.2 (46/74) and 43.2% (32/74), respectively.

Conclusion

TF-Test® and Coproplus® methods presented the lowest sensitivities for S. stercoralis and other helminth infection diagnosis; therefore, they can be indicated for use in parasitological diagnosis, only when associated with other more effective methods of helminth identification.

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Fig. 1

Source: Immunoassay Ind. Com. Ltda. and NL Diagnóstica

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Data Availability

All data are available once requested.

Code Availability

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported with scholarships for graduate and postgraduate students and a productivity scholarship by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (FAPESB) (Brazil), Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA) (Brazil), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) (Brazil) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (Brazil), respectively.

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (FAPESB) [grant number PPSUS nª SUS0024/2018].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Análises Clínicas e Toxicológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Rua Barão de Jeremoabo, S/N Campus Universitário de Ondina, Ondina, Salvador, Bahia, 40170115, Brazil

    Cíntia de Lima Oliveira, Joelma Nascimento de Souza, Alex Bruno da Silva Souza, Nilo Manoel Pereira Vieira Barreto, Irlana Dias Ribeiro, Larissa Mota Sampaio, Weslei Almeida Costa Araújo, Juliane Silva Batista dos Santos, Márcia Cristina Aquino Teixeira & Neci Matos Soares

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  1. Cíntia de Lima Oliveira
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Contributions

OCL: made substantial contributions to the acquisition and interpretation of data; wrote the manuscript with support of SNM, TMCA and SJN. SN; SABS; BNMPV; RID; SLM; AWAC and SJSB contributed to the acquisition and analysis of data for the work. TMCA and SJN: aided in interpreting the results; contributed to manuscript draft and revised it critically for scientific content. SNM: designed the study and supervised the work; made substantial contributions to the interpretation of data for preparation of the manuscript and revised it critically for scientific content. All authors have approved the final version to be published.

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Correspondence to Neci Matos Soares.

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This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Nursery School, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil, under registration number 367.464.

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Oliveira, C.d., de Souza, J.N., Souza, A.B.d. et al. Ineffectiveness of TF-Test® and Coproplus® Methods in Strongyloides stercoralis Infection Diagnosis. Acta Parasit. 67, 732–739 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-021-00484-3

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