Table 1.

Prevalence of intestinal protozoon infections determined by the formalin-ether concentration technique (FECT), the Flotac-400 dual technique (results obtained from FS4 and FS7 combined and results from each FS singly), and a combination of both techniques (considered the diagnostic gold standard)

Intestinal protozoon	Combined results			FECT results			Flotac results									Kappa valuea	P valueb
							FS4 and FS7 combined			FS4 only			FS7 only
	No.	%	95% CI	No.	%	95% CI	No.	%	95% CI	No.	%	95% CI	No.	%	95% CI
Entamoeba coli	94	87.0	79.2–92.7	77	71.3	61.8–79.6	84	77.8	68.8–85.2	74	69.0	58.9–77.1	66	61.1	51.3–70.3	0.35	<0.001
Entamoeba histolytica/E. dispar	42	38.9	29.7–48.8	30	27.8	19.6–37.2	22	20.4	13.2–29.2	12	11.0	5.9–18.6	17	15.7	9.5–24.0	0.20	0.019
Blastocystis hominis	33	30.6	22.1–40.2	14	13.0	7.3–20.8	22	20.4	13.2–29.2	20	19.0	11.7–27.1	7	6.5	2.7–12.9	0.01	0.458
Entamoeba hartmanni	14	13.0	7.3–20.1	12	11.1	5.9–18.6	3	2.8	0.6–7.9	3	2.8	0.6–7.9	1	0.9	0.02–5.1	0.09	0.107
Giardia intestinalis	12	11.1	5.9–18.6	7	6.5	2.6–12.9	9	8.3	3.9–15.2	5	4.6	1.5–10.5	7	6.5	2.6–12.9	0.46	<0.001
Endolimax nana	12	11.1	5.9–18.6	12	11.1	5.9–18.6	2	1.9	0.2–6.5	2	1.9	0.2–6.5	0	0		0.26	<0.001
Chilomastix mesnili	8	7.4	3.3–14.1	8	7.4	3.3–14.1	1	0.9	0.1–5.1	1	0.9	0.02–5.1	0	0		0.21	<0.001
Iodamoeba buetschlii	4	3.7	1.0–9.2	3	2.7	0.6–7.9	2	1.9	0.2–6.5	0	0		2	1.9	0.2–6.5	0.39	<0.001

^aThe Cohen kappa statistic indicates the agreement between the two diagnostic methods (n = 108).

^bP values were obtained by comparison of FECT and Flotac (results from FS4 and FS7 combined).