Diagnostic performance of rapid diagnostic tests versus blood smears for malaria in US clinical practice.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Approximately 4 million US travelers to developing countries are ill enough to seek health care, with 1500 malaria cases reported in the United States annually. The diagnosis of malaria is frequently delayed because of the time required to prepare malaria blood films and lack of technical expertise. An easy, reliable rapid diagnostic test (RDT) with high sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV), particularly for Plasmodium falciparum, would be clinically useful. The objective of this study was to determine the diagnostic performance of a RDT approved by the US Food and Drug Administration compared with traditional thick and thin blood smears for malaria diagnosis.

Methods

This prospective study tested 852 consecutive blood samples that underwent thick and t

SUBMITTER: Stauffer WM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2912215 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature