Evaluation of the performances of two rapid diagnostic tests (Cyscope®mini and Paracheck-Pf®) in the diagnosis of malaria among febrile children in southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to test the diagnostic performances of Cyscope®mini and Paracheck-Pf® for Plasmodium falciparum relative to microscopy.

Subjects and methods: 209 children aged 6 months to 12 years presenting with symptoms suggestive of malaria were enrolled at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria, within a period of 6 months. Malaria parasites were identified in capillary blood samples using Cyscope®mini (parasite DNA-based fluorescence microscope) and Paracheck-Pf® (an HRP-II-based test) with microscopy of Giemsa-stained thick blood films as reference gold standard. The overall performances were calculated using OpenEpi version 2.3 statistical package. 209 samples were performed for Cyscope®mini and light microscopy while 140 samples were done by Paracheck-Pf®.

Results: The prevalence of malaria parasitaemia by light microscopy was 22.0% (46/209), while those of Cyscope®mini and Paracheck-Pf® were 85.2% (178/209) and 32.1% (45/140), respectively. Parasite density ranged from 40 to 203,883/µl. Cyscope®mini and Paracheck-Pf® had sensitivities of 91.3 and 86.21%, respectively. The respective specificities were 16.56 and 81.98% for Cyscope®mini and Paracheck-Pf® with diagnostic accuracies of 33.01 and 82.86%. The diagnostic performances of the two rapid diagnostic tests were significantly different.

Conclusion: Paracheck-Pf® performed better than Cyscope®mini for diagnosis of falciparum malaria and will be a good diagnostic tool for field studies.