Introduction: Routine stool culture is used to evaluate patients with diarrheal illness. However, the results are often delayed, and the tests are very expensive. Therefore a rapid, simple method for screening would be a helpful adjunct in a diagnostic algorithm. Fecal leukocytes are found in diarrhea patients with diffuse colonic inflammation but missing in non-inflammatory cases, and are most commonly identified in infectious diarrheas of bacterial origin. It supports the use of immediate empiric therapy in very young, elderly and immunocompromised individuals. When negative, it may eliminate the need for stool culture in some cases of diarrhea. Recently, a new latex bead assay has been developed for the detection of lactoferrin, an iron binding glycoprotein found in polymorphonuclear leukocytes.
Aims: Evaluate the value of fecal leukocytes and lactoferrin in the workup of patients with diarrhea.
Methods: Fecal samples of 50 consecutive adult patients with acute or chronic diarrhea were tested for fecal leukocytes and lactoferrin. The results were compared with findings from fecal cultures, tests for parasite, Clostridium difficile A toxin latex test, data of the gastrointestinal examination and clinical evaluation. The authors defined two groups of the cases: the inflammatory and non-inflammatory diarrheas.
Results: The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of microscopic leukocyte count and the lactoferrin test were 42 and 63%, 87 and 87%, 67 and 75%, 71 and 79% respectively.
Conclusions: In agreement with the literature the results of the present study indicate that fecal lactoferrin appears more sensitive than fecal leukocyte smear, and accurately rules out inflammatory diarrhea.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Urinary prostaglandin metabolites evaluation for activity monitoring in inflammatory bowel disease.
Sci Rep
January 2025
Clinical Biochemistry Laboratory, Beaujon Hospital, APHP, Clichy, France.
Inflammatory bowel diseases cause chronic intestinal inflammation, including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Prostaglandin E-major urinary metabolite (PGE-MUM) is a urine biomarker for disease activity in IBD. This study evaluated PGE-MUM performance for predicting an active disease in patients with CD and UC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCorrelation of fecal microbiome dysregulation to synovial transcriptome in an equine model of obesity associated osteoarthritis.
Ann Transl Med
December 2024
Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is increasingly thought to be a multifactorial disease in which sustained gut inflammation serves as a continued source of inflammatory mediators driving degenerative processes at distant sites such as joints. The objective of this study was to use the equine model of naturally occurring obesity associated OA to compare the fecal microbiome in OA and health and correlate those findings to differential gene expression synovial fluid (SF) cells, circulating leukocytes and cytokine levels (plasma, SF) towards improved understanding of the interplay between microbiome and immune transcriptome in OA pathophysiology.
Methods: Feces, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and SF cells were isolated from healthy skeletally mature horses (n=12; 6 males, 6 females) and those with OA (n=6, 2 females, 4 males).
Microbiota-derived proteins synergize with IL-23 to drive IL22 production in model type 3 innate lymphoid cells.
PLoS One
January 2025
Center for Inflammation, Immunity, & Infection, Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
Microbiota-induced production of IL-22 by type 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3) plays an important role in maintaining intestinal health. Such IL-22 production is driven, in part, by IL-23 produced by gut myeloid cells that have sensed select microbial-derived mediators. The extent to which ILC3 can directly respond to microbial metabolites via IL-22 production is less clear, in part due to the difficulty of isolating and maintaining sufficient numbers of viable ILC3 ex vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOptimising fatigue, abdominal pain and faecal incontinence in people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD-BOOST Optimise): feasibility study of a checklist and algorithm for initial nurse-led management.
BMJ Open Gastroenterol
December 2024
Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing Midwifery & Palliative Care, King's College London, London, UK
Objective: Many people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) experience fatigue, pain and faecal incontinence that some feel are inadequately addressed. It is unknown how many have potentially reversible medical issues underlying these symptoms.
Methods: We conducted a study testing the feasibility of a patient-reported symptom checklist and nurse-administered management algorithm ('Optimise') to manage common medical causes of IBD-related fatigue, pain and faecal incontinence.
Fecal Calprotectin Determination in a Cohort of Children with Cow's Milk Allergy.
Nutrients
January 2025
Independent Researcher, 00100 Rome, Italy.
Cow's milk allergy (CMA) is the most common food allergy among children. An oral food challenge (OFC) remains a mainstay of the diagnosis of CMA, especially for the non-IgE-mediated type; however, this test can be risky and time-consuming. Hence, there is a need to identify biomarkers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!