Point-of-care testing for malaria outbreak management.
A rapid antigen assay for malaria was performed on blood samples collected during a simultaneous outbreak of falciparum malaria and vivax malaria on a remote island in the Indonesian archipelago. During the outbreak, a total of 89 patients (4.3% of the population) were diagnosed with malaria within a week. Microscopic examination revealed 78 malaria slide-positive cases, of whom 49 (62.8%) were identified as P. falciparum, 7 (9.0%) as P. vivax and 22 (28.2%) as mixed P. falciparum and P. vivax infections. The rapid malaria assay showed excellent correlation with expert-confirmed routine microscopy for P. falciparum and P. vivax monoinfections and mixed infections with a parasite density >50 parasites/microl. Several slide-negative blood samples collected from febrile patients with clinical malaria tested positive in the rapid test. The estimated sensitivity calculated for the rapid test (91.0%) was slightly higher than that of microscopy (87.6%). The result indicates that rapid antigen detection for malaria could be a useful alternative to microscopy to reduce the workload during emergency outbreak situations.
Department of Parasitology, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia.
Ratnawati
Mochammad
M
Hatta
Henk L
HL
Smits
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis*; D002648:Child; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016780:Malaria, Vivax / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000175:diagnosis; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems / Q000592:standards*; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013997:Time Factors
D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic