An optimized agar plate culture improves diagnostic efficiency for Strongyloides stercoralis infection in an endemic community.

We aimed to compare the efficacy of modified agar plate fecal culture (mAPC) and standard agar plate culture (sAPC) for diagnosis of Strongyloides stercoralis infection in a community at Khon Kaen Province, Thailand. Fecal samples were collected from participants individually (n = 1076) and were tested using these two methods. Modified APC and sAPC detected 129 (11.99%) and 91 (8.46%) infected individuals, respectively. Thirty-eight participants were negative according to sAPC, but positive for mAPC. Moreover, in the participants who were positive for both methods, the number of worm developmental stages obtained was higher for mAPC than for sAPC. Our study suggests that mAPC is an effective and useful tool for S. stercoralis diagnosis and can be applied for mass-screening in community and/or control programs.