Recovery Rate of intestinal parasites using conventional methods in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

Five different techniques were used to diagnose all the 232 stool specimens that came into the Parasitology Department of University College Hospital, Ibadan for a period of six months. A prevalence of 25.0% was obtained in the study. Brine flotation recovered the highest number of parasites; 40 (69.0%), followed by formol ether concentration; 32 (55.2%), Katokatz recovered a total of 28 (48.3%) parasites, but could not recover any protozoan parasite, stoll technique recovered 22 (37.9%) parasites and wet preparation detected the least number of parasites; 12 (20.7%). There was a significant statistical difference among the techniques (χ² = 13. 63, P = 0.008). None of the methods could detect all the cases observed in the study alone, thus no single technique was satisfactory as none was equally applicable for trophozoites and cysts of protozoa, eggs or larvae of helminths. Brine flotation technique should be added to the routine diagnostic method (wet preparation), since it significantly detects both helminths and protozoa more than any of the other techniques.

Nigerian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences Vol. 7 (1) 2008 pp. 42-46