giardia and cryptosporidium

[ctfaulkn at utkvx.utk.edu]

In Article <JarmeySwan.6.2E49DB41 at bchm.unp.ac.za>
JarmeySwan at bchm.unp.ac.za (Claire.Jarmey©Swan) writes:
>
>I am interested in statistics of giardia  and cryptosporidium . Also methods 
>of concentration and detection . Please mail any ideas. Thanks

The most recent issue of Trop Med contains a summary of parasite prevalences
compiled from records submitted by US Diagnostic laboratories.  This is
probably the best source for the statistics you are interested in.  In our
laboratory Crypto is concentrated by sucrose flotation and examined unstained
at 40x.  We have used the acid fast procedures from time to time, but they 
require more processing time and don't make detection appreciably easier. The
IFA technique by Merdian diagnostics works well and performs reliably, but
again it is costly in materials and processing time. I generally use it as 
a confirmatory tool for features that look like Crypto, but are probably not.
The ZNSO4 flotation is the best for Giardia, if you choose to try it, look up
the paper on Giardiasis by Barr in the May 1994 Compendium for the practicing
veterinarian. Barr describes Zajack's  ZNSO4 flotation procedure which utilizes
a coverslip technique for recovering the cysts from the meniscus rather than
the bacteriological loop recomended by Garcia.  The coverslip works much
better.  Good luck!!!!


**********************************
*      Charles T. Faulkner       *
*  Univ of Tennessee, Knoxville  *
*   (ctfaulkn at utkvx.utk.edu)     *
*********************************