Stool Examination Hanging Drop Test in Kathmandu

About this test

The hanging drop is a simple but time-sensitive microscopy technique in which a tiny drop of fresh, liquid stool is suspended from a special cover-slip over a hollowed slide, allowing the laboratory to watch living organisms move in real time under high magnification. Unlike a routine stool microscopy that hunts for ova, cysts and pus cells, this preparation is specifically about motility — the way an organism swims. Its classic use is in the early diagnosis of cholera: Vibrio cholerae shows an unmistakable darting, shooting or shimmering movement, often described as a shower of falling stars, which can be paralysed by adding specific antiserum on the slide. The test is most valuable during acute, profuse, watery diarrhoea — the painless rice-water stools of cholera — and during sudden outbreaks of severe gastroenteritis, situations that remain a genuine concern in Kathmandu and across Nepal during the monsoon and in areas with unreliable water supply, when a rapid bedside-level answer can guide urgent rehydration and public-health reporting before culture results are ready. The same method can also reveal the jerky motility of certain other organisms and motile trophozoites. Because it relies on organisms still being alive, the sample must reach the lab very quickly and unrefrigerated. A positive result strongly supports the clinical picture but is usually confirmed by stool culture, while a negative drop does not entirely exclude infection, so your doctor interprets it alongside your symptoms, hydration status and, where needed, culture and other stool tests.

Sample type

Stool (fresh)

Preparation

No fasting needed. Bring a fresh stool sample in a clean, dry, leak-proof container and get it to the lab as quickly as possible — ideally within an hour, while it is still warm — because this test depends on living, moving organisms. Do not refrigerate the sample, and tell us if you have started any antibiotics.

Turnaround time

Reports for Stool Examination Hanging Drop are typically ready within: Same Day. Reports can be collected at the clinic during opening hours or shared via WhatsApp once they are ready.

Also known as

Other microbiology tests we run

These are routinely ordered alongside Stool Examination Hanging Drop or as part of the same diagnostic workup.

How to book

WhatsApp is the fastest way — message us with the test name and your preferred time, and we'll confirm a slot the same day. You can also walk into the clinic at Rumba Chowk, Sanobharang any day between 7AM and 8PM, or fill in our online booking form.