{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,24]],"date-time":"2026-10-24T11:46:33Z","timestamp":1792842393173,"version":"4.5.0"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0012492","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,18]],"date-time":"2024-10-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1729209600000}}],"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,30]],"date-time":"2024-09-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1727654400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100005205","name":"Janssen Research and Development","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100005205","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosntds.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Negl Trop Dis"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Conventional microscopy of Kato-Katz (KK1.0) thick smears, the primary method for diagnosing soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections, has limited sensitivity and is error-prone. Artificial intelligence-based digital pathology (AI-DP) may overcome the constraints of traditional microscopy-based diagnostics. This study in Ucayali, a remote Amazonian region of Peru, compares the performance of AI-DP-based Kato-Katz (KK2.0) method to KK1.0 at diagnosing STH infections in school-aged children (SAC).<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>In this prospective, non-interventional study, 510 stool samples from SAC (aged 5\u201314 years) were analyzed using KK1.0, KK2.0, and tube spontaneous sedimentation technique (TSET). KK1.0 and KK2.0 slides were evaluated at 30-minute and 24-hour timepoints for detection of <jats:italic>Ascaris lumbricoides<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Trichuris trichiura<\/jats:italic>, and hookworms (at 30-minute only). Diagnostic performance was assessed by measuring STH eggs per gram of stool (EPG), sensitivity of methods, and agreement between the methods.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>KK2.0 detected more <jats:italic>A<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>lumbricoides<\/jats:italic> positive samples than KK1.0, with detection rates for <jats:italic>T<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>trichiura<\/jats:italic> and hookworms being comparable. At 30-minutes, 37.6%, 23.0%, and 2.6% of the samples tested positive based on KK1.0 for <jats:italic>A<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>lumbricoides<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>T<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>trichiura<\/jats:italic>, and hookworms, while this was 49.8%, 24.4%, and 1.9% for KK2.0. At 24-hours, 37.1% and 27.1% of the samples tested positive based on KK1.0 for <jats:italic>A<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>lumbricoides<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>T<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>trichiura<\/jats:italic>, while this was 45.8% and 24.1% for KK2.0. Mean EPG between KK2.0 and KK1.0 were not statistically different across STH species and timepoints, except for <jats:italic>T<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>trichiura<\/jats:italic> at 24-hours (higher mean EPG for KK1.0, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.036). When considering infection intensity levels, KK2.0 identified 10% more of the total population as low-infection intensity samples of <jats:italic>A<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>lumbricoides<\/jats:italic> than KK1.0 (<jats:italic>p \u2264<\/jats:italic> 0.001, both timepoints) and similar to KK1.0 for <jats:italic>T<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>trichiura<\/jats:italic> and hookworms. Varying agreement existed between KK1.0 and KK2.0 in detecting STH eggs (<jats:italic>A<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>lumbricoides<\/jats:italic>: moderate; <jats:italic>T<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>trichiura<\/jats:italic>: substantial; hookworms: slight). However, these findings should be interpreted carefully as there are certain limitations that may have impacted the results of this study.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This study demonstrates the potential of the AI-DP-based method for STH diagnosis. While similar to KK1.0, the AI-DP-based method outperforms it in certain aspects. These findings underscore the potential of advancing the AI-DP KK2.0 prototype for dependable STH diagnosis and furthering the development of automated digital microscopes in accordance with WHO guidelines for STH diagnosis.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0012492","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,30]],"date-time":"2024-09-30T17:38:02Z","timestamp":1727717882000},"page":"e0012492","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":22,"title":["Artificial intelligence-based digital pathology for the detection and quantification of soil-transmitted helminths eggs"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0727-4712","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Nancy","family":"Cure-Bolt","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fernando","family":"Perez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lindsay A.","family":"Broadfield","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bruno","family":"Levecke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peter","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"John","family":"Oleynick","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mar\u00eda","family":"Beltr\u00e1n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peter","family":"Ward","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lieven","family":"Stuyver","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,30]]},"reference":[{"issue":"10117","key":"pntd.0012492.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"252","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(17)31930-X","article-title":"Soil-transmitted helminth infections","volume":"391","author":"PM Jourdan","year":"2018","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"pntd.0012492.ref002","unstructured":"WHO. \u201cSoil-transmitted helminth infections\u201d. 2023 01-Aug-2023. 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