ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2020
Comparison of multi-parallel qPCR and double-slide Kato-Katz for detection of soil-transmitted helminth infection among children in rural Bangladesh.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Diagnostic accuracy of nucleic acid amplification tests for human intestinal nematode infections: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Pooled it
- Performance of real-time polymerase chain reaction and Kato-Katz for diagnosing soil-transmitted helminth infections and evaluating treatment efficacy of emodepside in randomized controlled trials.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Trial
- Effect of sanitation improvements on soil-transmitted helminth eggs in courtyard soil from rural Bangladesh: Evidence from a cluster-randomized controlled trial.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Trial
- Epidemiology of soil-transmitted helminths following sustained implementation of routine preventive chemotherapy: Demographics and baseline results of a cluster randomised trial in southern Malawi.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Trial
- Performance of the Kato-Katz method and real time polymerase chain reaction for the diagnosis of soil-transmitted helminthiasis in the framework of a randomised controlled trial: treatment efficacy and day-to-day variation.Parasites & vectors · 2020Trial
- A Paired-Marker Framework for Interpreting Anti-Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Diagnosing helminth infections in a large reference laboratory in the United States: a 6-month pre- and post-implementation analysis of AI-augmented screening of concentrated fecal wet mounts.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2026Article
- A train-and-assist device that upskills novices to strengthen the workforce and expand diagnostic access.PNAS nexus · 2026Article
- NTDscope: A multi-contrast portable microscope for disease diagnosis.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Serological Evidence of Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections as a Potential Risk for Severity in Leprosy Patients.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2025Article
- Development of loop mediated isothermal amplification assay for rapid detection and its comparison with PCR techniques for Ancylostoma duodenale.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Harnessing Molecular Techniques to Inform Species-Specific Hookworm Prevalence and Infection Intensity and Detect Strongyloides in Dak Lak Province, Vietnam.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2025Article
- Global diversity of soil-transmitted helminths reveals population-biased genetic variation that impacts diagnostic targets.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Epidemiology of intestinal parasite infections and multiparasitism and their impact on growth and hemoglobin levels during childhood in tropical Ecuador: A longitudinal study using molecular detection methods.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Effects of household concrete floors on maternal and child health: the CRADLE trial - a randomised controlled trial protocol.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Development and validation of a high-throughput qPCR platform for the detection of soil-transmitted helminth infections.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Soil surveillance for monitoring soil-transmitted helminths: Method development and field testing in three countries.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Effects of household concrete floors on maternal and child health - the CRADLE trial: a randomised controlled trial protocol.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
- Estimating Prevalence and Infection Intensity of Soil-Transmitted Helminths Using Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction and Kato-Katz in School-Age Children in Angola.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2024Article
- Anthelmintic resistance in soil-transmitted helminths: One-Health considerations.Parasitology research · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is growing interest in local elimination of soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infection in endemic settings. In such settings, highly sensitive diagnostics are needed to detect STH infection. We compared double-slide Kato-Katz, the most commonly used copromicroscopic detection method, to multi-parallel quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in 2,799 stool samples from children aged 2-12 years in a setting in rural Bangladesh with predominantly low STH infection intensity. We estimated the sensitivity and specificity of each diagnostic using Bayesian latent class analysis. Compared to double-slide Kato-Katz, STH prevalence using qPCR was almost 3-fold higher for hookworm species and nearly 2-fold higher for Trichuris trichiura. Ascaris lumbricoides prevalence was lower using qPCR, and 26% of samples classified as A. lumbricoides positive by Kato-Katz were negative by qPCR. Amplicon sequencing of the 18S rDNA from 10 samples confirmed that A. lumbricoides was absent in samples classified as positive by Kato-Katz and negative by qPCR. The sensitivity of Kato-Katz was 49% for A. lumbricoides, 32% for hookworm, and 52% for T. trichiura; the sensitivity of qPCR was 79% for A. lumbricoides, 93% for hookworm, and 90% for T. trichiura. Specificity was ≥ 97% for both tests for all STH except for Kato-Katz for A. lumbricoides (specificity = 68%). There were moderate negative, monotonic correlations between qPCR cycle quantification values and eggs per gram quantified by Kato-Katz. While it is widely assumed that double-slide Kato-Katz has few false positives, our results indicate otherwise and highlight inherent limitations of the Kato-Katz technique. qPCR had higher sensitivity than Kato-Katz in this low intensity infection setting.
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