Is serial testing required to diagnose imported malaria in the era of rapid diagnostic tests?

Pasricha, Janet M., Juneja, Surender, Manitta, Joseph, Whitehead, Susan, Maxwell, Ellen, Goh, Wai-Keong, Pasricha, Sant-Rayn, and Eisen, Damon (2013) Is serial testing required to diagnose imported malaria in the era of rapid diagnostic tests? American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 88 (1). pp. 20-23.

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Abstract

Exclusion of malaria traditionally requires three negative serial thick and thin blood films. However, many clinical laboratories now routinely perform rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) in addition to blood films when malaria is suspected. We sought to determine whether serial testing is necessary in this setting. We examined 388 cases of malaria diagnosed during 1999–2010 at three laboratories in Melbourne, Australia. For each case, we ascertained whether the diagnosis was made on initial or follow-up testing. Nine cases (3.5%) were diagnosed after a negative initial blood film and RDT: 7 Plasmodium vivax, 1 P. ovale, and 1 P. falciparum. Of four case-patients with P. vivax in which clinical data were available, all had recent exposure to antimalarial medication. Our data suggest that among patients who have not received recent anti-malarial therapy, and when RDTs are performed and blood films are prepared, most malaria diagnoses are made by using the first set of tests.

Item ID: 51432
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1476-1645
Date Deposited: 05 Nov 2017 23:23
FoR Codes: 11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1103 Clinical Sciences > 110302 Clinical Chemistry (diagnostics) @ 80%
11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1107 Immunology > 110702 Applied Immunology (incl Antibody Engineering, Xenotransplantation and T-cell Therapies) @ 20%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9201 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) > 920199 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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