Fig. 1
Graphic visualisation of the study design. In the first part of the study (a), precision of the three methods sedimentation/flotation (sed/flo), Mini-FLOTAC (M-FLOTAC) and FECPAKG2 was evaluated using six samples with varying numbers of epg. Each sample was analysed 10 times with each method. For each sample, means and SD values were compared for each method. Across all samples, CV (%) were compared between the methods. In the second part of the study (b), 1067 samples were all analysed once with each of the methods. Based on presence or absence of helminth eggs, the percentage of positive samples and inter-rater agreement, using Cohen’s κ values, were compared. Using quantitative data on epg or raw egg counts, Pearson and Spearmen correlations between methods were calculated and samples were assigned to categories of thresholds based on the quantitative methods Mini-FLOTAC and FECPAKG2. Assignment of samples to these categories was analysed using Cohen’s κ statistics. Abbreviations: CV, Coefficient of variation; epg, eggs per gram faeces; SD, standard deviation