Criteria for evaluation of proposed protozoan detection methods

There has been a proliferation of techniques and methods reported for analy sis of water samples to determine the presence of the protozoan pathogens C ryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia. Many of the proposed methods are presented as complete procedures, which include sampling, processing, stai ning, or detection steps while other methods are not complete. Some propose d methods have been extensively tested in multi-laboratory settings, howeve r, others are still in the developmental stage. A set of evaluation criteri a has been developed to evaluate the many proposed methods. These criteria have been applied as an example, to an existing method. These criteria shou ld be useful to individuals attempting to evaluate methods developed for de tecting protozoa in water, and conversely, they should serve as a guideline for individuals interested in developing methods, allowing them to gather data with and about their methods, and present this data in a manner that i s both logical and easily evaluated. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig hts reserved.