Evaluation of point of care testing for Diagnosis of Human Giardiasis

Abstract

Giardia duodenalis (syn. G. lamblia, G. intestinalis) is considered the most common cause of parasitic diarrhea worldwide with estimated prevalence rates of 20-30 % in developing countries and 2-5% in developed countries. The clinical manifestations of giardiasis are highly variable. Thus diagnosis of giardiasis on a clinical symptomatology is rather difficult. The life cycle of Giardia species is simple and includes trophozoite and cystic forms. Giardiasis has various routes of transmission through swallowing of Giardia cysts found in contaminated food or water. This cross sectional study was performed during the period of January 2018 Till December 2018. Symptomatic infants and children were selected from Pediatric inpatient ward and outpatient Clinics in Ain Shams University Hospitals with clinical manifestations suggestive of giardiasis as abdominal pain, diarrhea and abdominal distension. This study was conducted on a total of 30 cases that were divided into 2 groups according to the results of microscopic detection of giardiasis in stool samples, group I comprised of 15 cases (positive microscopy group) and group II comprised 15 cases (negative microscopy group).