Table 3. Comparative detection of DNA extracted from naive human stool spiked with S. japonicum eggs.

	1 egga = 20 EPG Mean Cq [Range]	3 eggsa = 60 EPG Mean Cq [Range]	10 eggsa = 200 EPG Mean Cq [Range]
SjTR1	16.68 [15.93–17.19]	15.58 [14.89–15.99]	14.06 [13.60–14.34]
mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase I gene [17]	29.38 [28.94–30.00]	28.36 [26.73–29.46]	26.30 [25.71–26.73]
putative DNA photo-lyase gene [18]	34.54 [33.38–35.96]	33.35 [32.36–33.88]	31.80 [31.31–32.25]]
mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene [19]	28.77 [28.44–29.17]	27.85 [26.42–28.95]	25.81[25.32–26.19]

^a Number of eggs spiked in a sample containing 0.05 g of stool.

Each concentration of eggs was tested using three biological replicates, and each replicate was analyzed by the SjTR1 assay in triplicate. The reported mean Cq value was calculated as a mean value of all component sample means. The reported range includes the smallest and greatest individual Cq values for each egg concentration. EPG = eggs per gram of stool.