A Comparison of use of Microscopic Examination and PCR for Detection of Entamoeba Histolytica at Wasit Province

Abstract

A microscopic examination of multiple feces samples of 100 suspected patients with Entamoeba histolytica
infection who suffered from diarrhea was attended to Al-Karamah Teaching hospital at Wasit Province from
January 2020 to March 2020. The feces samples were collected into two
Parts; first of direct wet film preparation were done for each sample using normal saline 0.9 % for detecting
the motility of trophozoites and Lugol’s iodine 5% for demonstrating structures and cyst. The 2nd part was
kept in freeze (-20C) until used in PCR method .
The current study recorded that the overall prevalence rate of Entamoeba histolytica 80(80%) by microscopic
examination and 88(88%) by PCR methods. The prevalence of E. histolytica was higher among families who
live in rural areas 44(55%) than those in urban areas 36(45%) and in males 49(61.3%) more than females
31(38.7%). The highest infection rate 37(46.3) was recorded in age group (21-40) years old. The present
study was aimed to compare between the microscopic examination and PCR methods in the diagnosis of E.
histolytica in human clinical samples.
We concluded our results that using PCR technique was more accurate and sensitive (88%) than microscopic
examination method (80%).