| Popis: |
Background In Togo, malaria remains a major public health problem and the management of suspected cases requires confirmation with appropriate biological methods. Indeed, malaria diagnosis has been improved through the introduction of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for areas where microscopy is not available. To be used, these RDTs must meet performance criteria defined by the WHO. This study was conducted to evaluate the diagnostic performance of two RDTs: Advantage P.f. Malaria Card® detecting HRP2 antigen and Advantage Malaria Pan + Pf Card® detecting both HRP2 and pLDH antigens. Methods This was a cross sectional analytical study conducted from December 2019 to February 2020 on malaria suspected cases seen in three sentinel sites in Togo and from whom capillary blood was collected to perform the two RDTs according to the procedures described by the manufacturer. The performance was estimated comparing to thick/thin blood smear and molecular biology (PCR), considered as gold standard. Results The sensitivity of both Advantage P.f. Malaria Card® and Advantage Malaria Pan + Pf Card® compared to thick /thin blood smear was 91.8% and 91.3% respectively and for both the specificity was 94.7%. Compared to PCR, the sensitivity decreased to 89.4% and 88.9% respectively and their specificity to 72.2%. Conclusion The performance of the Advantage P.f. Malaria Card® and Advantage Malaria PAN + Pf Card® compared to microscopy, considered as the gold standard, according to WHO criteria were acceptable. They can therefore be used for the biological diagnosis of malaria. |
