Abstract
Malaria remains a public health problem in over 90 countries worldwide, especially in Africa where it is the cause of morbidity and mortality. The aim of the study is to compare the sensitivity of two rapid diagnostic test kits in the diagnosis of malaria among patients attending Yobe State Specialist Hospital Damaturu. Patients were screened for malaria using blood samples collected in an EDTA container. Patients were tested with one Histidine rich protein-2(HRP-2) RDT (SD-Bioline) and a combination of Histidine rich protein-2(HRP-2) and Parasite lactose dehydrogenase enzyme (pLDH) RDT (CareStart). Microscopy was used as a gold standard. Out of 200 participants enrolled and screened for malaria, 200 (100%) tested positive by Microscopy, 159 (79.5%), tested positive by SD-Bioline (HRP 2 RDT) while 139 (69.5%), tested positive with the CareStart (pLDH RDT). Upon detection of the sensitivity by serially diluting the positive samples in other to decrease the parasite density; SD-Bioline was reactive at 1:4 dilution while CareStart was weekly reactive at this dilution. Although SD-Bioline showed to have a higher sensitivity than CareStart, both could be a suitable alternative to microscopy to screen endemic malaria in Nigeria.
Highlights
Malaria remains a public health problem in over 90 countries worldwide, especially in Africa where it is the cause of mortality mostly in children under 5 years
The Study results revealed that the two Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) showed an appreciable effectiveness though the SD-Bioline (HRP-2 RDT) showed a higher ability to detect malaria
There was a slight difference in sensitivity and specificity of SD-Bioline (HRP-2) and CareStart (HRP-2/Parasite lactose dehydrogenase enzyme (pLDH)) RDTs, there was a significant mean difference paired for both and the microscopy standard and the RDTs which means their performances are not relatively the same
Summary
Malaria remains a public health problem in over 90 countries worldwide, especially in Africa where it is the cause of mortality mostly in children under 5 years. It accounts for 40% of Public Health expenditure, 30-50% inpatients admissions and up to 50% of out-patients visits [1]. Malaria is a disease caused by various species of plasmodium (P. falciparum, P. ovale, P. vivax, P. malariae and P. knowlesi) transmitted through the bite of female anopheles mosquito. Occasionally sever infection with P. vivax and P. ovale generally cause less severe illness, but the parasite can remain dormant in the liver for many months, causing the reoccurrence of the symptoms for many months or even years later [2]
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