Performance of Ultrasensitive Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Detecting Asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum

Shunmay Yeung (1) , David Mcgregor (1) , Nicola James (1) , Soy Ty Kheang (2) , Saorin Kim (3) , Nimol Khim (3) , Po Ly (4) , Siv Sovannaroth (4) , Benoit Witkowski (3)

1 LSHTM - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
2 HSD - Center for Health and Social Development [Phnom Penh, Cambodia]
3 Institut Pasteur du Cambodge
4 CNM - National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control [Phnom Penh, Cambodia]

Proposed interventions for eliminating drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria include the targeting of asymptomatic carriers through screening and treatment. We report on the diagnostic performance of the recently developed ultrasensitive rapid diagnostic test (uRDT) compared with screening with conventional RDTs (cRDT) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) under field conditions in Cambodia in a total of 2,729 individuals. The P. falciparum positivity by quantitative PCR (qPCR) was 3.8% (26/678) in those screened during active case detection and 0.5% (10/2,051) in the cross-sectional survey. Compared with qPCR, the sensitivity of the uRDTs was 53.8% (95% CI: 33.4-73.4%) when used in active case detection and 60.0% (95% CI: 26.2-87.8%) in the cross-sectional survey. The uRDTs did not show a significant improvement in diagnostic performance over cRDTs when used for active case detection and for a malaria prevalence survey in the context of this low-transmission setting.

Domaines: Parasitologie

Shunmay Yeung, David Mcgregor, Nicola James, Soy Ty Kheang, Saorin Kim, et al.. Performance of Ultrasensitive Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Detecting Asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2020, 102 (2), pp.307-309. ⟨10.4269/ajtmh.19-0349⟩. ⟨hal-03494807⟩