Are rapid diagnostic tests more accurate in diagnosis of plasmodium falciparum malaria compared to microscopy at rural health centres?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Prompt, accurate diagnosis and treatment with artemisinin combination therapy remains vital to current malaria control. Blood film microscopy the current standard test for diagnosis of malaria has several limitations that necessitate field evaluation of alternative diagnostic methods especially in low income countries of sub-Saharan Africa where malaria is endemic.

Methods

The accuracy of axillary temperature, health centre (HC) microscopy, expert microscopy and a HRP2-based rapid diagnostic test (Paracheck) was compared in predicting malaria infection using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as the gold standard. Three hundred patients with a clinical suspicion of malaria based on fever and or history of fever from a low and high transmission setting in Uganda were

SUBMITTER: Batwala V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3002380 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature