Table 3.

Sensitivity of molecular methods for detecting Cryptosporidium species in stools from Malawian rural and urban <5-year-olds

PCR–RFLP, Polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism; STN-COWP, single tube nested PCR amplification of the Cryptosporidium oocyst wall protein; N-COWP, nested PCR amplification of the Cryptosporidium oocyst wall protein; N-Xiao, nested PCR amplification of 18S rRNA gene loci as described by Xiao et al. [26]; n.a., not applicable.

^*In each case one sample which appeared negative was shown to be inhibitory by the use of the internal control.

^†Concentration of PCR product too low to produce visible RFLP pattern.