Molecular Testing for Clinical Diagnosis and Epidemiological Investigations of Intestinal Parasitic Infections

Abstract

SUMMARY Over the past few decades, nucleic acid-based methods have been developed for the diagnosis of intestinal parasitic infections. Advantages of nucleic acid-based methods are numerous; typically, these include increased sensitivity and specificity and simpler standardization of diagnostic procedures. DNA samples can also be stored and used for genetic characterization and molecular typing, providing a valuable tool for surveys and surveillance studies. A variety of technologies have been applied, and some specific and general pitfalls and limitations have been identified. This review provides an overview of the multitude of methods that have been reported for the detection of intestinal parasites and offers some guidance in applying these methods in the clinical laboratory and in epidemiological studies.

Dientamoeba fragilis, One of the Neglected Intestinal Protozoa

“…Studies also highlight the lack of sensitivity demonstrated by microscopy, and thus, molecular methods are considered the diagnostic methods of choice for enteric protozoan parasites. However, until all potential human protozoan pathogens are included in the molecular panels, they will remain highly sensitive but will fail to detect all possible pathogens (28,(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50)84). Although molecular procedures detect a high percentage of intestinal protozoa in pediatric patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, interpretation and determination of the clinical relevance of a positive PCR result in this population may remain somewhat difficult.…”

“…Molecular assays have been developed to provide rapid, sensitive, and specific simultaneous detection and identification of multiple diarrhea-causing protozoan parasites that infect humans (42)(43)(44)84). Studies also highlight the lack of sensitivity demonstrated by microscopy, and thus, molecular methods are considered the diagnostic methods of choice for enteric protozoan parasites.…”

Prevalencia de Balantidium coli en la población humana y porcina asociado a factores socioeconómicos y saneamiento ambiental en el Distrito de Acora Puno Perú

“…Diversos reportes señalan que la prevalencia de la enfermedad en el cerdo es alta que puede variar entre 60% y 90% (Acha & Szyfres, 2005; ) y en algunos casos puede llegar al 100% (Verweij & Rune Stensvold, 2014) y constituyen el principal reservorio para la infección humana (Uysal et al, 2009;Publisher et al, 2014); en granjas tecnificadas y semitecnificadas de Cundinamarca, Colombia se encontró el 42% de cerdos infectados con B. coli (Mendoza-Gómez et al, 2015); en la provincia de Messina, Italia se reportó 86,06% de porcinos híbridos comerciales y sólo el 36,66% de cerdos de la raza negro siciliano estaban infectados por el parásito (Giarratana et al, 2012); así como se reportó el 93% de prevalencia del parásito en cerdos de Ranchi, Jahrkahnd, India (Bauri et al, 2012) y en Mymensingh, Bangladesh se reportó una prevalencia de 34.62% (Rahman & Saha, 2015).…”

Integration of Molecular Methods into Microbiological Diagnostics

“…Without no doubt, the use of conventional methods to study infectious diseases was a success, however, a more substantial contribution came into reality when microbial pathogenicity at the molecular level comes in [15,18]. This has created a wider understanding of clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment and immunoprophylaxis of infectious diseases [15].…”