Abstract
We aimed to compare the efficacy of modified agar plate fecal culture (mAPC) and standard agar plate culture (sAPC) for diagnosis of Strongyloides stercoralis infection in a community at Khon Kaen Province, Thailand. Fecal samples were collected from participants individually (n = 1076) and were tested using these two methods. Modified APC and sAPC detected 129 (11.99%) and 91 (8.46%) infected individuals, respectively. Thirty-eight participants were negative according to sAPC, but positive for mAPC. Moreover, in the participants who were positive for both methods, the number of worm developmental stages obtained was higher for mAPC than for sAPC. Our study suggests that mAPC is an effective and useful tool for S. stercoralis diagnosis and can be applied for mass-screening in community and/or control programs.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all of the participants and CKDNET members in this study. We also acknowledge Prof. David Blair for editing the manuscript via publication clinic, Khon Kaen University.
Funding
This study was granted by Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Thailand (Grant Number IN62135), the project of CKDNET (grant no. CKDNET2559007), and the Postgraduate Scholarship to Mr. Chatchawan Sengthong, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. KI thanks the scholarship under the Post-Doctoral Training Program from Research Affairs and Graduate School, Khon Kaen University, Thailand (Grant No. 60163).
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This study was approved by the Human Ethical Review Committee of Khon Kaen University, Thailand (HE591437). This study is partially under the Chronic Kidney Disease Prevention in the Northeastern Thailand (CKDNET) program.
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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Sengthong, C., Yingklang, M., Intuyod, K. et al. An optimized agar plate culture improves diagnostic efficiency for Strongyloides stercoralis infection in an endemic community. Parasitol Res 119, 1409–1413 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06626-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06626-2