Faculty of health sciences

Medical Laboratory Sciences Department

Medical parasitology lab.

 Concentration Methods
1. Sedimentation method
 Modified Formal- Ether sedimentation technique
 Acid- Ether sedimentation technique
2. Flotation method
 Saturated Salt Solution technique
 Sheather’s Sugar Centrifugal Flotation technique
 Zinc Sulphate Centrifugal Flotation technique
 Flotation technique
 These method use the high specific gravity of a solution to float the lighter
ova and cyst. They can be improved by centrifugation.
• Advantage:
• Easy to perform .
• Disadvantage:
• Delay in examination can result in distortion.
• Larvae and some fluke eggs do not concentrate.
• Frequent checking of specific gravity.
 Materials and Method
1. Boil granular sodium chloride in excess in water to produce a saturated
solution which when cooled has a specific gravity of 1.18 - 1.2.
2. Half fill a wide- mounted flat bottomed container with the saturated salt
solution.
3. Emulsify 1gm of feces in the solution and strain it to remove the debris from
the surface.
4. Pour the filtrate into meniscus and fill it to the top with saturated salt solution.
5. Lay a glass slide or large coverslip over the top, avoiding any bubbles being
trapped.
6. Leave for 20 min before quickly inverting the slide.
7. Scan for ova using the 10x objectives.
 Saturated Salt solution technique
 Advantages:
– It is cheap preparation using simple apparatus.
– It concentrates nematode ova well.
 Disadvantages:
– It doesn’t concentrate cysts.
 Materials and Method

 Sheather’s sugar solution:

– Table sugar --------------------------------------500gm
– Distilled water ---------------------------------- 320ml
– Phenol crystal ( melt in hot water bath) ----- 6.5gm
 Procedures
1. Soften 1gm of feces with water to a soft.
2. Strain the aqueous suspension through a wire sieve.
3. Mix 1 part aqueous suspension with 2 part of Sheather's sugar
solution.
4. Pour into a centrifuge tube, centrifugation 1500 rpm for 10 minutes.
5. Pour the supernatant into a meniscus and add a sufficient solution to
bring the meniscus to the top.
6. Place a coverslip and wait for 10 minutes.
7. Examine under microscope.
 Sheather’s Sugar solution technique

 Advantages:
– Reveals most nematode eggs and protozoan cyst.

 Disadvantages:
– Flukes eggs and tape worm eggs are not demonstrate well.
– Also most nematode larvae are not demonstrate well.
 Giardia lamblia
• It is the most common flagellate of the intestinal tract that cause giardiasis,
Traveler's diarrhea.
• There is two diagnostic stages for Giardia lamblia :
1. Cyst is oval measuring 11 – 14u in length and 7 to 10 µm in width with 4
nuclei and remnant flagella, and it’s the infective stage.
2. Trophozoite is described as having a 'tear-drop' shape and are 10 to 20 µm
long and 5 to 10 µm wide. The trophozoites contain two nuclei, four pair of
flagella. (motility by flagella).
• Diagnosis:
– Stool examination to see cyst stage, or trophozoite stage if the sample is fresh.
Life cycle
Giardia lamblia cyst
Giardia lamblia cyst
Giardia lamblia Trophozoite
Giardia lamblia Trophozoite