The increasing ease of intercontinental travel, immigration and the multiplication of cases of immune depression are such that European physicians are now frequently required to prescribe stool examinations for parasites. This article defines the laboratory approach to the diagnosis of intestinal parasites: indications for tests, based upon clinical and epidemiological data; methods of prescription and recommendations to patients; techniques used in the laboratory and their cost; minimum answer times; interpretation of results, in particular in the immune depressed.