Table 1.

Advantages and disadvantages of microscopic, immunological and molecular diagnostic methods for Cryptosporidium spp.

Diagnostic Test	Advantages	Disadvantages
Microscopy	•Relatively low cost •Widely available	•Poor sensitivity •Time consuming •Skilled microscopist essential
Immunoassay based methods	•Good sensitivty •Wide variety of kits available •Convenient adjunct to microscopic analysis	•Not widely available in developing countries due to cost constraints and limited detection spectrum of kits •False positives
Molecular/Nucleic acid amplification methods	•Exceptional sensitivity •Capable of species and subspecies identification •Option to mulitiplex detection of several enteric pathogens	•Expensive reagents and instrumentation required •Requires skilled technician