○ Collect urine at midday on three consecutive days; peak Schistosoma egg excretion occurs between 12:00 and 3:00pm. Preferably collect the last portion voided.
○ Collect 1 stool specimen per day (1 Yellow top and 1 White top container) for 3 days in each vial for a total of six (6) specimens per patient with suspected parasitic infection.
○ Ensure patient avoids anti-diarrheal medications, radiological dye (barium) and antibiotics prior to producing the specimen as they may interfere with parasite detection.
○ Please provide appropriate clinical information on the requisition (e.g. travel history or country of origin if refugee, returned traveller or recent immigrant, consumption of certain food products, eosinophilia, HIV, immunocompromise, critical illness, admitted to ICU or previous parasite infection. The foreign country MUST be identified on the requisition.
○ Please indicate any specific organisms suspected on the requisition
○ Microscopy is the gold standard diagnostic test for schistosomiasis and should be requested whenever testing is indicated. Serologic testing is an adjunct to microscopy for individuals with clinical or epidemiologic risk factors of schistosomiasis, particularly for individuals with low parasite burden when microscopy is negative.