Conditions of schistosomiasis laboratories at county level

OBJECTIVE: To understand the conditions of schistosomiasis laboratories at county level, so as to supply the information for diagnostic capacity building. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was conducted at 40 random selected counties which were in charge of national surveillance for schistosomiasis. The information of staffs, areas of laboratories, equipment configuration and diagnostic methods from each laboratory were collected. The serum specimens and Kato-Katz thick smears from the national surveillance sites were randomly selected and retested by provincial staffs to evaluate the testing ability of the personnel. RESULTS: The average age of laboratory staffs was 40.93 +/- 9.56 years old, 69.39% of staffs were older than 35 years, 86.22% of them had education background below bachelor degree. Except missed professional titles of 4 persons, the staffs with primary, middle and high professional titles accounted for 56.63%, 39.29% and 2.04%, respectively. The laboratory areas varied greatly while independent schistosomiasis stations had the lowest areas with 52.81 +/- 40.08 m2, and the equipment configurations of laboratories were in a low level. The consistency rates of primary test and reexamination for serum specimens and thick smear slides were 95.89% and 99.53%, respectively, with the Kappa value over 0.90. Nine immunodiagnostic kits were used in these laboratories, and Kato-Katz technique and miracidium hatching technique were the main parasitological methods. CONCLUSIONS: The personnel structure of laboratories at primary prevention and treatment facilities for schistosomiasis is unreasonable, while the basic infrastructure of laboratories is backward and the use of diagnostic assays/methods is disordered. The diagnostic capacity building should be strengthened, and the construction and management of schistosomiasis laboratories should be standardized.