Table 1 Diagnostic tests to be employed on stool (and urine) samples from patients with persistent digestive disorders and healthy controls in Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Mali and Nepal during the NIDIAG study. Note: except for the rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for Schistosoma mansoni which uses urine, all tests are performed on stool samples

Microscopy

 Direct faecal smear

Helminths, intestinal protozoa

[55]

 Kato-Katz thick smear

Helminths

[56]

 Acid-fast staining

Cryptosporidium spp., Cyclospora cayetanensis, Cystoisospora belli

[57]

 Baermann funnel concentration technique

Strongyloides stercoralis, hookworm

[41, 58]

 Formalin-ether concentration technique

Helminths, intestinal protozoa

[59, 60]

 Mini-FLOTAC

Helminths

[61, 62, 63]

Culture

 Bacteriological stool culture

Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Campylobacter spp., Yersinia spp.

[9]

 Koga agar culture

Strongyloides stercoralis, hookworm

[64–67]

Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs)

 Crypto/Giardia DuoStrip

Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia intestinalis

[37]

 Circulating cathodic antigen (CCA)^a

Schistosoma mansoni

[68–72]

Molecular post-hoc testing on ethanol-fixed stool samples

 Multiplex PCR

Helminths, intestinal protozoa (all samples); diarrhoeagenic bacteria and viruses (selected sub-sample)

[73–76]