Test Indications:
- Suspected health concerns of a digestive nature and case points to a possible parasitic infection within the bowel.
- Patient has a wide variety of symptoms of unknown etiology.
Test Summary:
- This test is performed to identify abnormal intestinal microflora, but does not directly assess abnormal digestion/absorption, inflammation or other specific aspects of gastrointestinal health.
- The test is typically performed as a follow up after treatments initiated as a results of the Comprehensive Stool Analysis with Parasitology.
Parasites in the Bowel Have Detrimental Effects on Health
Parasites are transmitted through contaminated food and water. Parasites are prevalent today because of increased world travel, decreased immune system function, overuse of antibiotics and improper digestion of food. For those patients who have picked up a foreign parasite they can be ill for a very long time. With the knowledge that a foreign parasite is living in your system, a treatment protocol can be made that is specific for removing the organism and boosting the immune system.
An In Depth look at Intestinal Ecology
The ability to access intestinal ecology through stool culture techniques (which include comprehensive bacteriology and yeast cultures to identify the presence of beneficial flora, imbalanced flora and dysbiotic flora (dys = wrong / biotic = living), combined with detection of infectious pathogens and visual evaluation for the presence of parasites, is an important step in identifying imbalances in intestinal microflora.