An in-depth report of quality control on Kato-Katz and data entry in four clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of albendazole against soil-transmitted helminth infections.

BACKGROUND: Efforts to control soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections have intensified over the past decade. Field-survey data on STH prevalence, infection intensity and drug efficacy is necessary to guide the implementation of control programs and should be of the best possible quality. METHODOLOGY: During four clinical trials designed to evaluate the efficacy of albendazole against STHs in Brazil, Ethiopia, Lao PDR and Tanzania, quality control (QC) was performed on the duplicate Kato-Katz thick smears and the data entry. We analyzed datasets following QC on both fecal egg counts (FECs) and data entry, and compared the prevalence of any STH infection and moderate-to-heavy intensity (MHI) infections and the drug efficacy against STH infections. RESULTS: Across the four study sites, a total of 450 out of 4,830 (9.3%) Kato-Katz thick smears were re-examined. Discrepancies in FECs varied from ~3% (hookworms) to ~6.5% (Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura). The difference in STH prevalence and prevalence of MHI infections using the datasets with and without QC of the FECs did not exceed 0.3%, except for hookworm infections in Tanzania, where we noted a 2.2 percentage point increase in MHI infections (pre-QC: 1.6% vs. post-QC: 3.8%). There was a 100% agreement in the classification of drug efficacy of albendazole against STH between the two datasets. In total, 201 of the 28,980 (0.65%) data entries that were made to digitize the FECs were different between both data-entry clerks. Nevertheless, the overall prevalence of STH, the prevalence of MHI infections and the classification of drug efficacy remained largely unaffected. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: In these trials, where staff was informed that QC would take place, minimal changes in study outcomes were reported following QC on FECs or data entry. Nevertheless, imposing QC did reduce the number of errors. Therefore, application of QC together with proper training of the personnel and the availability of clear standard operating procedures is expected to support higher data quality.

Diagnostic performance of a single and duplicate Kato-Katz, Mini-FLOTAC, FECPAKG2 and qPCR for the detection and quantification of soil-transmitted helminths in three endemic countries.

BACKGROUND: Because the success of deworming programs targeting soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) is evaluated through the periodically assessment of prevalence and infection intensities, the use of the correct diagnostic method is of utmost importance. The STH community has recently published for each phase of a deworming program the minimal criteria that a potential diagnostic method needs to meet, the so-called target product profiles (TPPs). METHODOLOGY: We compared the diagnostic performance of a single Kato-Katz (reference method) with that of other microscopy-based methods (duplicate Kato-Katz, Mini-FLOTAC and FECPAKG2) and one DNA-based method (qPCR) for the detection and quantification of STH infections in three drug efficacy trials in Ethiopia, Lao PDR, and Tanzania. Furthermore, we evaluated a selection of minimal diagnostic criteria of the TPPs. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: All diagnostic methods showed a clinical sensitivity of ≥90% for all STH infections of moderate-to-heavy intensities. For infections of very low intensity, only qPCR resulted in a sensitivity that was superior to a single Kato-Katz for all STHs. Compared to the reference method, both Mini-FLOTAC and FECPAKG2 resulted in significantly lower fecal egg counts for some STHs, leading to a substantial underestimation of the infection intensity. For qPCR, there was a positive significant correlation between the egg counts of a single Kato-Katz and the DNA concentration. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results indicate that the diagnostic performance of a single Kato-Katz is underestimated by the community and that diagnostic specific thresholds to classify intensity of infection are warranted for Mini-FLOTAC, FECPAKG2 and qPCR. When we strictly apply the TPPs, Kato-Katz is the only microscopy-based method that meets the minimal diagnostic criteria for application in the planning, monitoring and evaluation phase of an STH program. qPCR is the only method that could be considered in the phase that aims to seek confirmation for cessation of program. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03465488.

Therapeutic efficacy of albendazole against soil-transmitted helminthiasis in children measured by five diagnostic methods.

BACKGROUND: Preventive chemotherapy (PC) with benzimidazole drugs is the backbone of soil-transmitted helminth (STH) control programs. Over the past decade, drug coverage has increased and with it, the possibility of developing anthelmintic resistance. It is therefore of utmost importance to monitor drug efficacy. Currently, a variety of novel diagnostic methods are available, but it remains unclear whether they can be used to monitor drug efficacy. In this study, we compared the efficacy of albendazole (ALB) measured by different diagnostic methods in a head-to-head comparison to the recommended single Kato-Katz. METHODS: An ALB efficacy trial was performed in 3 different STH-endemic countries (Ethiopia, Lao PDR and Tanzania), each with a different PC-history. During these trials, stool samples were evaluated with Kato-Katz (single and duplicate), Mini-FLOTAC, FECPAKG2, and qPCR. The reduction rate in mean eggs per gram of stool (ERR) and mean genome equivalents / ml of DNA extract (GERR) were calculated to estimate drug efficacy. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS: The results of the efficacy trials showed that none of the evaluated diagnostic methods could provide reduction rates that were equivalent to a single Kato-Katz for all STH. However, despite differences in clinical sensitivity and egg counts, they agreed in classifying efficacy according to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. This demonstrates that diagnostic methods for assessing drug efficacy should be validated with their intended-use in mind and that other factors like user-friendliness and costs will likely be important factors in driving the choice of diagnostics. In addition, ALB efficacy against STH infections was lower in sites with a longer history of PC. Yet, further research is needed to identify factors that contribute to this finding and to verify whether reduced efficacy can be associated with mutations in the ß-tubulin gene that have previously been linked to anthelmintic resistance. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03465488.

Comprehensive evaluation of stool-based diagnostic methods and benzimidazole resistance markers to assess drug efficacy and detect the emergence of anthelmintic resistance: A Starworms study protocol.

BACKGROUND: To work towards reaching the WHO goal of eliminating soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections as a public health problem, the total number of children receiving anthelmintic drugs has strongly increased over the past few years. However, as drug pressure levels rise, the development of anthelmintic drug resistance (AR) is more and more likely to appear. Currently, any global surveillance system to monitor drug efficacy and the emergence of possible AR is lacking. Consequently, it remains unclear to what extent the efficacy of drugs may have dropped and whether AR is already present. The overall aim of this study is to recommend the best diagnostic methods to monitor drug efficacy and molecular markers to assess the emergence of AR in STH control programs. METHODS: A series of drug efficacy trials will be performed in four STH endemic countries with varying drug pressure (Ethiopia and Brazil: low drug pressure, Lao PDR: moderate drug pressure and Tanzania: high drug pressure). These trials are designed to assess the efficacy of a single oral dose of 400 mg albendazole (ALB) against STH infections in school-aged children (SAC) by microscopic (duplicate Kato-Katz thick smear, Mini-FLOTAC and FECPAKG2) and molecular stool-based diagnostic methods (quantitative PCR (qPCR)). Data will be collected on the cost of the materials used, as well as the time required to prepare and examine stool samples for the different diagnostic methods. Following qPCR, DNA samples will also be submitted for pyrosequencing to assess the presence and prevalence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the ß-tubulin gene. These SNPs are known to be linked to AR in animal STHs. DISCUSSION: The results obtained by these trials will provide robust evidence regarding the cost-efficiency and diagnostic performance of the different stool-based diagnostic methods for the assessment of drug efficacy in control programs. The assessment of associations between the frequency of SNPs in the ß-tubulin gene and the history of drug pressure and drug efficacy will allow the validation of these SNPs as a marker for AR in human STHs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was retrospectively registered the 7th of March 2018 on Clinicaltrials.gov (ID: NCT03465488).

Modification and optimization of the FECPAKG2 protocol for the detection and quantification of soil-transmitted helminth eggs in human stool.

BACKGROUND: Standard diagnosis of human soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections is based on the microscopic detection of helminth eggs in stool and supports programmatic decision making in control programs. However, the current standard diagnostic techniques still show a number of limitations. Recently, the FECPAKG2 method was developed to detect helminth infections and asses drug efficacy in sheep or cattle. It includes a device that takes digital images of helminth eggs that have been concentrated into one microscopic field of view and stores these images online for future evaluation. The goal of this study was to introduce a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the detection and quantification of human STH eggs using the FECPAKG2 and to optimize 2 crucial steps of the protocol, namely the sedimentation step (aimed at separating sinking eggs from floating debris) and the accumulation step (aimed at concentrating the eggs by flotation). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A total of 55 stool samples from naturally infected children were used from 4 different geographical areas (Ethiopia, Laos, Tanzania and Brazil). The results showed that Trichuris eggs generally moved slower than eggs of the other two STH species during both sedimentation in water in the FECPAKG2 sedimenter as during accumulation in flotation solution in the FECPAKG2 cassettes. The highest number of eggs were present in the slurry of the sedimenter after overnight sedimentation (Ascaris: 95.7%, Trichuris: 89.8% and hookworm: 94.2% of the eggs). A minimum of 24 minutes were needed to ensure the accumulation of at least 80% of the eggs from all three STH species in the FECPAKG2 cassette (Ascaris: 96.1%; Trichuris: 88.2% and hookworm: 87.6%). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study introduces for the first time a SOP for the FECPAKG2 method. Different aspects of the method for diagnosing human STH infections were optimized. Our study forms the basis for a thorough and objective evaluation of the system as a diagnostic tool that could be implemented in STH control programs.