Abstract
BackgroundTo overcome the limitations of conventional malaria rapid diagnostic tests (cRDTs) in diagnosing malaria in patients with low parasitaemia, ultrasensitive malaria rapid diagnostic tests (uRDTs) have recently been developed, with promising results under laboratory conditions. The current study is the first meta-analysis comparing the overall sensitivity, and specificity of newly developed ultrasensitive Plasmodium falciparum malaria RDT (Alere™ Ultra-sensitive Malaria Ag P. falciparum RDT) with the cRDT conducted in the same field conditions.MethodsPubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane infectious diseases group specialized register, and African Journals Online (AJOL) were searched up to 20th April 2021. Studies with enough data to compute sensitivity and specificity of uRDT and cRDT were retrieved. A random-effect model for meta-analysis was used to obtain the pooled sensitivity and specificity.ResultsOverall, 15 data sets from 14 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The overall sensitivity of the Alere™ ultra-sensitive Malaria Ag P. falciparum RDT regardless of the reference test and the clinical presentation of participants, was 55.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 45.5; 65.0), while the sensitivity regardless of the reference test and the clinical presentation of participants, was 42.9% (95% CI: 31.5; 55.2) for the cRDT performed in the same field conditions. When PCR was used as reference test, the sensitivity of uRDT was 60.4% (95% CI: 50.8; 69.2), while the sensitivity was 49.4% (95% CI: 38.2; 60.6) for the cRDT. The pooled specificity of uRDT regardless of the reference test and the clinical presentation of participants was 98.6% (95% CI: 97.1; 99.4), and the pooled specificity of cRDT regardless of the reference test and the clinical presentation of participants was 99.3% (95% CI: 98.1; 99.7). When PCR was used as reference test the specificity of uRDT and cRDT was 97.5% (95% CI: 94.1; 98.9) and 98.2% (95% CI: 95.5; 99.3). Regardless of the reference test used, the sensitivity of Alere™ Ultra-sensitive Malaria Ag P. falciparum RDT in symptomatic patients was 72.1% (95%CI: 67.4; 76.4), while sensitivity of cRDT was 67.4% (95%CI: 57.6; 75.9).ConclusionFindings of the meta-analysis show that Alere™ Ultra-sensitive Malaria Ag P. falciparum RDT compared to cRDT performed in the same field conditions has higher sensitivity but lower specificity although the difference is not statistically significant.
Highlights
To overcome the limitations of conventional malaria rapid diagnostic tests in diagnosing malaria in patients with low parasitaemia, ultrasensitive malaria rapid diagnostic tests have recently been developed, with promising results under laboratory conditions
Plasmodium falciparum was the species targeted by the ultrasensitive malaria rapid diagnostic tests (uRDTs) test in all the studies, and all the uRDT were from the same manufacturer
When PCR was used as reference test the specificity of uRDT and conventional malaria rapid diagnostic tests (cRDTs) was 97.5% and 98.2% respectively, and when the ultra-sensitive PCR was used as reference test the specificity was 99.5% (95%CI: 98.9; 99.8) and 99.8%, respectively (Table 2)
Summary
To overcome the limitations of conventional malaria rapid diagnostic tests (cRDTs) in diagnosing malaria in patients with low parasitaemia, ultrasensitive malaria rapid diagnostic tests (uRDTs) have recently been developed, with promising results under laboratory conditions. Even though the global burden of malaria has been reduced since 2000, in 2018, nearly 228 million new cases of malaria were recorded globally, and there were close to 405.000 excess death caused by malaria [1] Among those deaths, children [2] and pregnant [3] women represent the most vulnerable population. In people living in areas where malaria is prevalent, and in pregnant women, malaria diagnosis can be challenging In the former, because every suspected case must be diagnosed and treated, even those with parasitaemia below the detection threshold of conventional rapid diagnostic tests (cRDTs) for malaria, and in the latter, because of the ability of Plasmodium falciparum to bind to the placenta, which can lead to parasite densities in peripheral blood below the detection threshold of the most used cRDTs and light microscopy, the need for ultrasensitive diagnostic tests (uRDTs) [5]
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