Abstract
For many years, microscopic examination of stool samples has been considered to be the “gold standard” for diagnosis of intestinal parasites although the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analysis is increasingly utilized due to its high accuracy. Recently, PCR has been approved by the World Health Organization as the current method of choice for the diagnosis of Entamoeba histolytica infection. In this study we evaluated a novel immunochromatographic antigen detection rapid test, ImmunoCardSTAT CGE (Meridian Bioscence, Milan, Italy), which has been proposed for the diagnosis of infections caused by Cryptosporidium parvum-Giardia intestinalis-Entamoeba histolytica. There is another rapid test with a similar name, the ImmunoCard STAT! Crypto/Giardia, but it is just for Cryptosporidium and Giardia. We aimed to compare E. histolytica results obtained from the rapid test with those of a rt-PCR for the detection of E. histolytica / E. dispar DNA. The new ImmunoCard rapid antigen detection test exhibited 88% sensitivity and 92% specificity (if assessed on rt-PCR negative samples) but showed a high proportion of cross-reaction between the pathogenic E. histolytica and the non pathogenic E. dispar.
Résumé
Depuis de nombreuses années, l’examen microscopique des selles a été considéré comme le « gold standard » pour le diagnostic des parasites intestinaux, bien que l’analyse de réaction en chaîne par polymérase (PCR) soit de plus en plus utilisée en raison de sa grande précision. Récemment, la PCR a été approuvée par l’Organisation mondiale de la santé comme méthode de choix pour le diagnostic de l’infection par Entamoeba histolytica. Dans cette étude, nous avons évalué un test rapide de détection d’antigène par immunochromatographie, ImmunoCardSTAT CGE (Meridian Bioscence, Milan, Italie), qui a été proposé pour le diagnostic des infections causées par Cryptosporidium parvum-Giardia intestinalis-Entamoeba histolytica. Nous avons cherché à comparer, pour E. histolytica, les résultats obtenus à partir du test rapide avec ceux d’une rt-PCR pour la détection de ADN de E. histolytica / E. dispar. Le nouveau test de détection rapide ImmunoCard présentait 88 % de sensibilité et 92 % de spécificité (si appréciée sur les échantillons négatifs en RT-PCR), mais a montré une forte proportion de réactions croisées entre la pathogène E. histolytica et la non pathogène E. dispar.
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Formenti, F., Perandin, F., Bonafini, S. et al. Evaluation of the new ImmunoCard STAT!® CGE test for the diagnosis of Amebiasis. Bull. Soc. Pathol. Exot. 108, 171–174 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13149-015-0434-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13149-015-0434-5