Scraping or shaking--a comparison of methods for the quantitative determination of Echinococcus multilocularis in fox intestines.

A modified sedimentation technique (the "shaking in a vessel" technique; SVT) to examine intestines for smaller helminths such as Echinococcus multilocularis is described and compared with the intestinal scraping technique (IST). Out of 356 foxes, 26 were E. multilocularis positive, 19 using IST (sensitivity 73.1%) and 25 with SVT (sensitivity 96.2%) after IST. Especially low infection intensities went undetected with IST. The result is comparable to the established sedimentation and counting technique (SCT). SVT is recommended for the routine examination of fox intestines as an alternative to SCT.