Diagnosis of intestinal infections by cultivation

ABSTRACT

An evaluation of the efficiency of fecal cultivation in modified Boeck and Drbohlav diphasic medium for the diagnosis of intestinal protozoan infections in comparison with 4 coverslip preparations of direct fecal smears and formalin-ether concentration technic was undertaken Of the three technics, cultivation has the highest percentage recovery efficiency for E. histolytica and T. hominis. Of 24 specimens positive for E. histolytica, cultivation detected 23 or 95.8 in contrast to 9 or 69.2 positive by combination of direct fecal smear and formalin-ether concentration. Forty-four specimens were positive by cultivation for T. hominis while only 16 of these or 37.2 were positive by direct fecal smear. Formalin-ether concentration is not suitable for the detection of T. hominis since the organisms are caught in the ether-debris layer In view of our experience, cultivation is recommended to be used routinely in the diagnosis of intestinal amoebiasis. (Summary)