Test for chronic parasitic infections

Contrary to popular belief chronic parasitic infections with organisms e.g. Giardia lamblia, Blastocystis hominis and Entamoeba histolytica are common even in England. This is probably a reflection of greater worldwide travel. These organisms can remain in the gut for decades and are frequently missed, partly because the usual tests done at District General Hospitals and the Institute of Tropical Medicine are known to only pick up a small proportion of these problems

The Parascope test, developed by the world's leading parasitologist, Dr. Herman Bueno, is a highly specialised mitichonfrial staining technique and is now available in Great Britain at the Department of microbiology at Leeds University. Prior to three years ago it was only available at Great Smokies laboratory in New York state, USA.

We have had two patients who have been positive with giardia infections who have never actually been out of the country and their symptoms abated on the appropriate treatment for this problem.