Diagnosis of Giardia and Cryptosporidium Infection in Children with Diarrheal Illness Using Rapid Immunochromatographic Assay

Background: Giardia and Cryptosporidium are both enteric pathogens causing diarrhea with no reliable method for their diagnosis. The aim of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of a rapid immunochromatographic (IC) ImmunoCard STAT! Crypt/Giardia assay (Meridian Bioscience, Inc.) in comparison to composite reference standard (CRS) of both wet mount microscopy and ELISA copro-antigen assay in the diagnosis of both pathogens. Methods and Findings: One hundred twenty two children were children with diarrhea were checked for infection by Giardia and Cryptosporidium using wet mount microscopy, ELISA copro-antigen assay and the rapid IC test. The rapid assay had a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPP) and diagnostic accuracy (DA) of 89, 100, 100, 94% and 96% for Giardia and 78, 100, 100, 98 and 98% for Cryptosporidium in reference to CRS. Conclusions: The rapid IC assay proved to be simple, time-saving and objective; it can be used as a rapid screening test for giardiasis and cryptosporidiosis or integrated with other diagnostic modalities to confirm diagnosis.

Author(s): Nora Labeeb El-Tantawy, Hala A El-Nahas, Doaa M Sultan

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