Enteric pathogens and their isolation at a cancer hospital in Pakistan

Diarrhoeal diseases remain a major cause of mortality and morbidity in deve loping countries. However, due to lack of funds, supply problems and some i nexperience, some laboratories have difficulty identifying a causative agen t in stool samples. In the year following the opening of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Lahore, Pakistan, the micr obiology department had not isolated a single enteric pathogen. From Januar y 1996, new culture techniques were introduced, with a resulting increase ( 10%) in identification of these pathogens. In addition, the introduction of formol-ether concentration made a significant contribution to the number o f intestinal parasites seen. This report demonstrates how simple microbiolo gy methods made a difference to the running of the department and, ultimate ly, to the patients.