Adiestramiento en el diagnóstico de las parasitosis intestinales en la red de laboratorios de Cuba

Abstract

A national training project in the diagnosis of intestinal parasites was conducted in 1997. An initial national course was followed respectively by courses in the Central, Eastern, and Western Provinces. Our results showed that Cryptosporidium parvum, Cyclospora cayetanensis, and leukocytes showed a significantly lower percentage of errors after the training than before (p < 0.01). The same occurred with Entamoeba histolytica/E. dispar and Chilomastix mesnilii (p < 0.05). Among the helminths, Taenia spp., Fasciola hepatica, and hookworm showed significantly fewer errors after the training (p < 0.01). In the other specimens, few mistakes were found both at the beginning and after the training, and the percentage of errors did not change (p > 0.05). Furthermore, when comparing scores before and after training, a significant increase in median scores appeared in the Central Provinces (p < 0.05), Western Provinces (p < 0.01), and in the entire series (p < 0.01). The results showed the effectiveness of this intervention; these periodic mandatory training courses should be developed together with national programs for quality assessment in Parasitology.

Evaluation of Clinical Laboratories in Diagnosing Intestinal Parasitic Infections

“…al., 2006; Olsen et al, 2009; Khieu et al, 2013; Krolewiechi & Nutman, 2019).Fasciola hepatica eggs, although operculated and measuring 130-150 µm, were identified only by 53% of the laboratories. This diagnosis difficulty is reportedly common in similar assays(Laird et al, 1997;Núñez et al, 1997;Núñez & Finlay, 2001; WHO, 2004;Sánchez et al, 2012). Such diagnosis failure is probably due to the lack of parasite feature knowledge by the professionals.…”

“…Most of the studies are performed in hematology, biochemistry and microbiology laboratories (Sardiñas et al, 2016;Mao et al, 2018;Souza et al, 2018). The few studies published on parasitology laboratories are mainly from Latin America (Ayala & Sánchez, 1974;Castro et al, 1995, Laird et al, 1997, Núñez et al, 1998Núñez & Finlay, 2001;Blanco et al, 2013;Jemere et al, 2018).…”