Phenol-auramine versus modified kinyoun's acid-fast stains for detection of coccidia parasites

摘要

Background: Enteric protozoa have emerged as important opportunistic parasites and can cause fatal infections in immunocompromised patients. Since their line of treatment being different, an accurate identification is necessary. In this study, the phenol-auramine stain was compared with acid-fast Kinyoun's stain for detection of the coccidia parasites in faecal samples from immunocompromised patients. The comparison was on the basis of the attributes which are number of detected cases, sensitivity, specificity, time required for the procedure and screening, ease of performance and interpretation, and cost.