Article

Accuracy and reliability of malaria diagnostic techniques for guiding febrile outpatient treatment in malaria-endemic countries.

Malaria Unit Research, Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, BP 1274, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar.
The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene (impact factor: 2.59). 03/2008; 78(2):217-21. pp.217-21
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT The main purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of various techniques available for diagnosis of malaria. Blood samples were collected from 313 patients with clinical suspicion of uncomplicated malaria in 2 primary health centers in Madagascar. The presence of Plasmodium parasites was assessed by conventional microscopy, 2 rapid diagnostic tests (one HRP2-based test, PALUTOP(+4), and one pLDH-based test, OptiMAL-IT), and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which is used as the "gold standard" method. The degree of agreement observed was very high for microscopy (0.99) and the HRP2-based test (0.93) and high for the pLDH-based test (0.82). Public-health implications are also discussed in this paper.

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Keywords

0.82). Public-health implications
 
2 primary health centers
 
2 rapid diagnostic tests
 
Blood samples
 
clinical suspicion
 
gold standard
 
HRP2-based test
 
malaria
 
OptiMAL-IT
 
Plasmodium parasites
 
pLDH-based test
 
real-time polymerase chain reaction
 
uncomplicated malaria
 
various techniques available