Performance of local light microscopy and the ParaScreen Pan/Pf rapid diagnostic test to detect malaria in health centers in Northwest Ethiopia

Diagnostic tests are recommended for suspected malaria cases before treatment, but comparative performance of microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) at rural health centers has rarely been studied compared to independent expert microscopy. Participants (N = 1997) with presumptive malaria were...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-04, Vol.7 (4), p.e33014-e33014
Main Authors: Endeshaw, Tekola, Graves, Patricia M, Ayele, Berhan, Mosher, Aryc W, Gebre, Teshome, Ayalew, Firew, Genet, Asrat, Mesfin, Alemayehu, Shargie, Estifanos Biru, Tadesse, Zerihun, Teferi, Tesfaye, Melak, Berhanu, Richards, Frank O, Emerson, Paul M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Biology
Child
Child, Preschool
Comparative analysis
Diagnostic systems
Diagnostic tests
Ethiopia - epidemiology
Female
Health
Health aspects
Health facilities
Households
Humans
Infant
Infections
Laboratories
Light
Light microscopy
Malaria
Malaria - diagnosis
Malaria - epidemiology
Malaria - parasitology
Male
Medical diagnosis
Medical tests
Medicine
Microscopy
Middle Aged
Plasmodium falciparum
Plasmodium vivax
Prevalence
Quality control
Reagent Kits, Diagnostic
ROC Curve
Sensitivity
Technicians
Vector-borne diseases
Young Adult
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Summary:Diagnostic tests are recommended for suspected malaria cases before treatment, but comparative performance of microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) at rural health centers has rarely been studied compared to independent expert microscopy. Participants (N = 1997) with presumptive malaria were recruited from ten health centers with a range of transmission intensities in Amhara Regional State, Northwest Ethiopia during October to December 2007. Microscopy and ParaScreen Pan/Pf® RDT were done immediately by health center technicians. Blood slides were re-examined later at a central laboratory by independent expert microscopists. Of 1,997 febrile patients, 475 (23.8%) were positive by expert microscopists, with 57.7% P. falciparum, 24.6% P. vivax and 17.7% mixed infections. Sensitivity of health center microscopists for any malaria species was >90% in five health centers (four of which had the highest prevalence), >70% in nine centers and 44% in one site with lowest prevalence. Specificity for health center microscopy was very good (>95%) in all centers. For ParaScreen RDT, sensitivity was ≥90% in three centers, ≥70% in six and
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0033014