Detection of giardiasis In children using conventional parasitological, immunological and molecular techniques / Neveen Adel Mohamed Madbouly ; Supervised Azza Mohamed Elamir , Alyaa Farid , Ayman A. Elbadry

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Zoology

Giardia intestinalis is a significant cause of diarrhoea in children in developing countries. A cross sectional study was designed between May 2013 to February 2014 to determine the prevalence of giardiasis in stool of children in greater Cairo, Egypt, using three diagnostic techniques (coproscopy, copro-ELISA and n-PCR). Stool samples were obtained from 200 children up to 12 years of age attending the outpatient clinic of children{u2019}s university hospital in Munira (AbuElreesh hospital), Cairo, Egypt. Out of the 200 children examined, 33 were positive for giardia with n-PCR (25 with ELISA, 14 with microscopy after formal ethyl-acetate concentration and only 8 with direct microscopy). Using ELISA as reference standard, coproscopy before and after concentration had 100 % specificity and positive predictive value but was of low to moderate sensitivity. n-PCR showed the highest sensitivity. ELISA and n-PCR reported comparable diagnostic efficacy with no significant difference between them. Multi-attribute utility ranked ELISA as the highest one for laboratory use followed by n-PCR. A significant difference was recorded in frequency of G. intestinalis identification from the stools of symptomatic children than that of children who were asymptomatic. Association between symptoms and age group was recorded. Contact to animals, diarrhoea and abdominal pain were also found to be associated risk factor G. intestinalis infection

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