Connect
MJA
MJA

Polymerase chain reaction testing for faecal parasites: risks and alternatives

Asha C Bowen, Harsha Sheorey, Penelope A Bryant, Jennifer Robson and David P Burgner
Med J Aust 2016; 204 (7): . || doi: 10.5694/mja15.01327
Published online: 18 April 2016

In this short report, written on behalf of the Australian Society of Infectious Diseases (ASID) and endorsed by its council, we highlight recent changes to stool pathogen testing (particularly for parasites) within Australasian laboratories and alert clinicians to our concerns regarding result interpretation.


  • 1 Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth, WA
  • 2 Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, WA
  • 3 St Vincent's Pathology, Melbourne, VIC
  • 4 Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC
  • 5 Infectious Diseases Unit, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, VIC
  • 6 Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, Brisbane, QLD


Correspondence: asha.bowen@health.wa.gov.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

  • 1. Stark D, Roberts T, Ellis JT, et al. Evaluation of the EasyScreen enteric parasite detection kit for the detection of Blastocystis spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Dientamoeba fragilis, Entamoeba complex, and Giardia intestinalis from clinical stool samples. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis 2014; 78: 149-152.
  • 2. Roser D, Simonsen J, Nielsen HV, et al. Dientamoeba fragilis in Denmark: epidemiological experience derived from four years of routine real-time PCR. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 2013; 32: 1303-1310.
  • 3. Byrne S, Robson JM. Advances in molecular diagnosis of parasitic enteropathogens. Pathology 2015; 47: 234-242.
  • 4. Roser D, Simonsen J, Stensvold CR, et al. Metronidazole therapy for treating dientamoebiasis in children is not associated with better clinical outcomes: a randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled clinical trial. Clin Infect Dis 2014; 58: 1692-1699.

Author

remove_circle_outline Delete Author
add_circle_outline Add Author

Comment
Do you have any competing interests to declare? *

I/we agree to assign copyright to the Medical Journal of Australia and agree to the Conditions of publication *
I/we agree to the Terms of use of the Medical Journal of Australia *
Email me when people comment on this article

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.