> CDC recommends collecting three stool samples from patients over several days for accurate test results. Commercial testing products for diagnosing giardiasis are available in the United States. [1]
Perhaps running three tests is the standard of care, or if not one might advocate for this based on the CDC recommendation. And if dismissed, perhaps there are commercial products available at the consumer level.
[1] https://www.cdc.gov/giardia/hcp/diagnosis-testing/index.html
I was taught to suspect worms only in children and immunicompromised adults. And I never found the exception.
Depending on the epidemiology, testing a population is a waste of time and money. They have a very high chance of having the disease and a very high chance of reinfection even after treatment. So what happens is those patients come in every once in a while and they straight up ask for their periodic albendazole dose. And then they go back to their homes and they drink the exact same water and eat the exact same food.
You can walk into Tractor Supply with a $20 bill and walk out with a horse-sized tube of fenbendazole paste and a few bucks in change.
“Accuracy” is too vague. You want to find out what the sensitivity and specificity are.
https://ebn.bmj.com/content/23/1/2
For instance, a rapid covid test might have low sensitivity but high specificity. Meaning if it’s negative, you could still have the disease. But if it’s positive, you’re almost certainly sick. Ie the false negative rate is a lot higher than the false positive rate.
This distinction might seem pedantic but it's important to be precise when discussing medical issues.