Abstract:

【Abstract】 Objective  To evaluate the qualitative and quantitative effect of Kato-Katz and formol-ether concentration methods in diagnosis of Schistosomiasis japonica. Methods  Kato-Katz and formol-ether concentration methods were respectively used to determine the findings by comparing with the positive results of Schistosoma japonicum eggs detected by the combined use of the two approaches in 38 cases as gold standard. Results Positive egg rate by Kato-Katz and formol-ether concentration technique was respectively 89.47% and 81.58%, and the difference was not significant after verification of the exact probability by fourfold and contingency table (P = 0.795). By mean eggs per gram(EPG) of stool from the positively infected patients, the count by Kato-Katz method was 3.6 times of that by formol-ether concentration technique, and the cost of materials and specimen preparation was 2.33 times lower in Kato-Katz method than formol-ether concentration. Conclusion  Kata-Katz method has similar detection rate to formol-ether concentration for Schistosoma japonicum eggs, yet the former can result in higher EPG value in determination of the infection density than the latter. Given quantitative study of schistosomiasis, formol-ether concentration is appropriately recommended.

Key words: Schistosomiasis japonica, Kato-Katz method, Formol-ether concentration technique, Detective rate,  , Infectiosity