Diagnostic performance of NxTek™ Eliminate Malaria-Pf test for the detection of Plasmodium falciparum in school children with asymptomatic malaria.
Malar J
; 22(1): 112, 2023 Mar 29.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36991438
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
One of the major roadblocks to the falciparum malaria elimination programme is the presence of a portion of the population, such as school children, with asymptomatic malaria infection. Targeting such reservoirs of infections is critical to interrupting transmission and enhancing elimination efforts. The NxTek™ Eliminate Malaria Pf test is a highly sensitive rapid diagnostic test (hsRDT) for the detection of HRP-2. However, knowledge gaps exist in Ethiopia on the diagnostic performance of hsRDT for the detection of Plasmodium falciparum in school children with asymptomatic malaria.METHODS:
A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2021 to January 2022 on 994 healthy school children (aged 6-15 years). Finger-pricked whole blood samples were collected for microscopy, hsRDT, conventional RDT (cRDT or SD Bioline Malaria Ag Pf/P.v), and QuantStudio™ 3 Real-Time PCR system (qPCR). The hsRDT was compared to cRDT and microscopy. qPCR and microscopy were used as reference methods.RESULTS:
The prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum was 1.51%, 2.2%. 2.2% and 4.52%, by microscopy, hsRDT, cRDT and qPCR, respectively. Using qPCR as reference, the sensitivity of hsRDT was higher (48.89%) than the microscopy (33.3%), and showed 100% specificity and a positive predictive value (PPV). Microscopy showed similar specificity and PPV as hsRDT. Using microscopy as a reference, the diagnostic perforrmances of both hsRDT and cRDT were similar. Both RDTs demonstrated identical diagnostic performances in both comparison methods.CONCLUSIONS:
hsRDT has the same diagnostic performance as cRDT but improved diagnostic characteristics than microscopy for detection of P. falciparum in school children with asymptomatic malaria. It can be a useful tool for the national malaria elimination plan of Ethiopia.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Health context:
1_ASSA2030
/
2_ODS3
/
3_ND
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Malaria, Falciparum
/
Malaria
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Child
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Malar J
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article