Abstract

Background: To address the significant burden of helminthiases in Thailand, this cross-sectional study compared the performance of a fecal parasite concentrator kit (FPCK) against the Kato–Katz (KK) method for diagnosing intestinal parasites in endemic populations across the Northeast and Southern regions. Methods: Stool samples were collected from 140 participants and examined for intestinal parasitic infections using both FPCK and KK methods. Results: The FPCK method demonstrated a significantly higher detection rate of 45.0% compared to 35.0% for the KK method. For detecting liver fluke (Opisthorchis viverrini), the FPCK method detected significantly more cases than the KK method (10.71% vs. 4.29%) (p = 0.0027). For other parasites such as Trichuris trichiura, Strongyloides stercoralis, and Entamoeba coli, the FPCK method tended to detect more infections, but the differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Conclusions: The FPCK method showed better performance than the KK method for detecting intestinal helminth infections in stool samples, particularly O. viverrini, T. trichiura, S. stercoralis, and Entamoeba coli. Therefore, FPCK could be used as a suitable stool examination method for surveillance and monitoring of preventive treatment for opisthorchiasis.