Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Evaluation of Parasite Egg and Cyst Recovery Using Devices Designed for Centrifugal or Stationary Flotation.
- Journal:
- Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association
- Year:
- 2018
- Authors:
- Medeiros, Kelsea L et al.
- Affiliation:
- From the Department of Microbiology and Immunology · United States
Plain-English summary
Researchers tested two new devices designed to help recover parasite eggs and cysts from pet feces for examination under a microscope. They compared these devices to a standard method that uses a double-centrifugal sugar-flotation technique, which turned out to be the most effective for finding certain types of worm eggs. While the new devices showed some improvement over older methods, they still didn't recover as many eggs as the standard method, and there were instances where they missed some eggs altogether. For recovering Giardia cysts, a specific solution called zinc sulfate worked best with one of the new devices. Overall, the new devices are better than older stationary methods but not as reliable as the traditional double-centrifugal technique.
Abstract
Two new devices (OT, ST), were recently introduced for the recovery of parasite eggs and cysts for microscopic examination. These devices, two stationary flotation devices, and a standard double-centrifugal sugar-flotation were compared using common flotation solutions and methods recommended by the manufacturers for the recovery of hookworm, ascaridoid, and whipworm eggs from companion animal fecal samples. Additionally, the recovery of Giardia cysts in the OT device using a zinc sulfate versus sodium nitrate solution was evaluated. Double-centrifugal sugar-flotation (1.30 specific gravity) was the most sensitive method for the recovery of the nematode eggs from feces of companion animals. Overall, centrifugation increased the recovery of eggs as compared with standing flotation methods, with the ST performing equivalently to the OT. Although these more recently introduced tests have good sensitivities for the nematodes tested, egg recovery was routinely markedly less than that achieved by standard double-centrifugal sugar-flotation, and false-negatives did occur. Still, the OT and ST generally have increased recoveries over the two standing flotation devices, and are significantly better than these for the recovery of ascaridoid and whipworm eggs from dog and cat samples. Zinc sulfate (1.18 specific gravity) is recommended for the recovery of Giardia cysts when using the OT device.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29131673/