Pooling as a strategy for the timely diagnosis of soil-transmitted helminths in stool: value and reproducibility.

Our results suggest that the pooling protocol developed herein is a robust and efficient strategy for the detection of STHs in 'pools-of-five'. There is notable complexity of the pool preparation to ensure even distribution of helminth DNA throughout. Therefore, at a given setting, cost of labour among other logistical and epidemiological factors, is the more concerning and determining factor when choosing pooling strategies, rather than losing sensitivity and/or specificity of the molecular assay or the method.