English

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cryptosporidiosis and Giardiasis are leading causes of parasitic intestinal diseases. There are various methods to detect them including iodine-saline wet mount for Giardia, Modified Acid fast (MAF) staining for Cryptosporidia and Direct Fluorescent Antigen detection (DFA) method. OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to compare three methods for the detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts in fecal samples. METHOD: 44 stool specimens from patients with history of diarrhea were examined for Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium parvum by using a direct immunofluorescent-monoclonal antibody stain (for unspun specimens), Iodine- saline wet mount method for Giardia cysts & trophozoites and Modified acid-fast for Cryptosporidium oocysts. RESULTS: From the total of 44 specimens; 29 (65.9 %) Cryptosporidia oocysts were isolated and 6 (13.6%) Giardia cysts by all the Iodine- Saline wet mount, MAF, DFA methods. The direct immunofluorescent-monoclonal antibody method resulted in a significantly increased detection of both Giardia cysts (5 versus 1 specimens, p value =0.01) and Cryptosporidium oocysts (19 versus 10 specimens, p value=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: DFA is a sensitive method for detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts in fecal samples whereas MAF is a reliable screening method.