New Kit Identifies Protozoa Causing Gastrointestinal Disease

Responding to a need to identify protozoan parasites among the known causes of gastrointestinal (GI) disease, a test kit to identify the different protozoa is being developed.

The most common intestinal protozoan parasites infecting humans worldwide that cause diarrhea are Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, Blastocystis hominis, Dientamoeba fragilis, and Cryptosporidium species. Currently, laboratory detection of these protozoans relies on microscopic examination of stool samples and water concentrates, as well as enzyme immunoassays (EIA). Microscopic examination usually results in under-detection of these parasites, while EIA are generally not cost-effective.

Savyon Diagnostics Ltd. (Ashdod, Israel) is developing a test kit that can detect a panel of all five protozoans simultaneously. The kit will carry out the diagnosis in two steps--first a large number of specimens will be screened for the organisms without distinguishing between the different species, then specific identification will be made for the positive specimens. Finally, EIA diagnosis will be applied to formalin-preserved specimens for each of the five parasites.

June Kopelowitz, Ph.D., presented Savyon's new approach to identification of protozoa causing GI disease at the annual meeting of the Israel Society of Parasitology, Protozoology, and Tropical Medicine, which was held in Ramat Gan, Israel on December 17, 2008. Dr. Kopelowitz and colleagues expect that this will be an important advance in improving the diagnosis of protozoan parasites in GI symptomatic patients, enabling the appropriate treatment, and saving healthcare costs.

Diarrheal diseases are extremely common in developed and developing countries and are major causes of morbidity and mortality, affecting millions of individuals every year.

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