Friday 11 January 2013

MALARIA: new RDT tested China-Myanmar border


From:William Brieger


Date:Tue, Jan 8, 2013 6:26 am

Diagnostic performance of CareStartTM malaria HRP2/pLDH (Pf/pan) combo test versus standard microscopy on falciparum and vivax malaria between China-Myanmar endemic borders

Malaria Journal 2013, 12:6 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-12-6
Published: 7 January 2013

Abstract (provisional)

Background

Rapid diagnostic test (RDT) is becoming an alternative way of establishing quickly the diagnosis of malaria infections, by detecting specific malaria antigens in suspected patients' blood between the China-Myanmar endemic borders areas, towards achieving the National Malaria Elimination programme by 2020. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of CareStartTM Malaria Pf/Pan RDT kit for the diagnosis of malaria infections in suspected patients. Blood examination by microscopy was taken as gold standard to evaluate CareStartTM kit's sensitivity, specificity and predictive value and corrected with PCR assay.

Results

Overall 126 of 241 (52.28%) malaria cases were detected by microscopy compared to 115 of 241(47.72%) CareStartTM kit and 128 of 241 (53.11%) PCR corrected assay. CareStartTM kit's sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of malaria were 89.68% and 98.26% respectively, compared to standard microscopy, whereas the sensitivity and specificity for falciparum malaria were 88.52% and 98.26%, and for vivax malaria: 90.77% and 100%. The CareStartTM positive predictive values were 98.26% (93.88-99.52%, 95% CI) compared to 100% (96.77-100%, 95% CI) for PCR-corrected, and the negative predictive values of 89.68% (83.15-93.87%, 95% CI) were the same in microscopy as PCR-corrected. The diagnostic accuracy of CareStartTM kit versus microscopy and PCR were 93.78% (89.99-96.19%, 95% CI) and 94.61% (90.99-96.82%, 95% CI) respectively. The likelihood of diagnostic of malaria positive was almost similar between microscopy and CareStartTM kit, with an entropy reduction of 60.0% compared to a weak likelihood of misdiagnosis of 0.10 (0.09-0.12, 95% CI), with an entropy reduction of 36.01%.

Conclusion

The accuracy of CareStartTM kit is comparable to gold standard microscopy in these areas, it is easy to perform and suitable for cross-border diagnosis and monitoring of local or imported malaria patterns by any local health staff in endemic remotes. 

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