The increased sensitivity of qPCR in comparison to Kato-Katz is required for the accurate assessment of the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infection in settings that have received multiple rounds of mass drug administration

Table 3 Number of positive samples by Kato-Katz and qPCR, mean DNA copy number per µl and mean difference in DNA copy number per µl from samples that underwent duplicate DNA extractions

Species		Extraction 1		Extraction 2		Mean difference in DC/µl^a	P-value^b
Species	n positive KK	n positive PCR	Mean DC/µl	n positive PCR	Mean DC/µl	Mean difference in DC/µl^a	P-value^b
Ascaris lumbricoides	1	3	18710.68	3	31092.67	12387.62	1.00
Trichuris trichiura	2	3	4359.60	3	6099.49	1739.89	0.25
Hookworms	3
Necator americanus		4	46875.50	4	392866.11	346299.27	1.00
Ancylostoma duodenale		0	.	0	.	.	.
Ancylostoma ceylanicum		2	4630511.00	3	2894048.15	393997.91	1.00

^a Mean of the differences between each paired sample. ^b P-value from the significance test determining the difference between the mean DNA copy number for extraction 1 and the mean DNA copy number for extraction 2
Abbreviation: DC, DNA copy number; KK, Kato-Katz

ISSN: 1756-3305