A comparison of Kato-Katz technique to three other methods for diagnosis of Amphimerus spp. liver fluke infection and the prevalence of infection in Chachi Amerindians of Ecuador.

DM showed the lowest sensitivity, which raises concern for its value, because it is the standard technique for stool examination for detection of parasites in both public and private laboratories in Ecuador. SSTT alone detected eggs in 22 samples (58%) and would be recommended for field studies because of its simplicity. Performing two techniques on a single sample enhances the detection of Amphimerus infection. Its sensitivity is relative to a fixed "gold" standard, determined as the combined results of the four techniques performed. This study confirms the high prevalence of human infection by Amphimerus in the indigenous Chachi group where the first human cases were described.