Comparative Studies of Commercial Fecal Occult Blood Test Kits for the Identification of Human Bloodstains

For the identification of human bloodstains, OC-Hemocatch (HC), one of the fecal occult blood test kits is generally used to obtain rapid result. However, HC showed positive reaction for some of wild animal bloodstains. In this paper, a detailed comparison of the specificity of six commercial fecal occult blood test kits has been made. As a result, two, i.e. HemoGold50 (HG) and QuickGold Hem (QG), of six kits showed both good specificity and good sensitivity. The remaining fecal occult blood test kits showed positive reaction in wild animal bloodstains, such as mustelid blood or low sensitivity. HG is simple to use and easy to store for forensic case works. Therefore, HG was considered to be the most suitable fecal occult blood test kit for human identification of blood or bloodstains.