Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 1998 Jan;36(1):203-6.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.36.1.203-206.1998.

Evaluation of the OptiMAL test for rapid diagnosis of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum malaria

Affiliations
Comparative Study

Evaluation of the OptiMAL test for rapid diagnosis of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum malaria

C J Palmer et al. J Clin Microbiol. 1998 Jan.

Abstract

The development of rapid and specific diagnostic tests to identify individuals infected with malaria is of paramount importance in efforts to control the severe public health impact of this disease. This study evaluated the ability of a newly developed rapid malaria diagnostic test, OptiMAL (Flow Inc., Portland, Oreg.), to detect Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum malaria during an outbreak in Honduras. OptiMAL is a rapid (10-min) malaria detection test which utilizes a dipstick coated with monoclonal antibodies against the intracellular metabolic enzyme parasite lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH). Differentiation of malaria parasites is based on antigenic differences between the pLDH isoforms. Since pLDH is produced only by live Plasmodium parasites, this test has the ability to differentiate live from dead organisms. Results from the OptiMAL test were compared to those obtained by reading 100 fields of traditional Giemsa-stained thick-smear blood films. Whole-blood samples were obtained from 202 patients suspected of having malaria. A total of 96 samples (48%) were positive by blood films, while 91 (45%) were positive by the OptiMAL test. The blood films indicated that 82% (79 of 96) of the patients were positive for P. vivax and 18% (17 of 96) were infected with P. falciparum. The OptiMAL test showed that 81% (74 of 91) were positive for P. vivax and 19% (17 of 91) were positive for P. falciparum. These results demonstrated that the OptiMAL test had sensitivities of 94 and 88% and specificities of 100 and 99%, respectively, when compared to traditional blood films for the detection of P. vivax and P. falciparum malaria. Blood samples not identified by OptiMAL as malaria positive normally contained parasites at concentrations of less than 100/microl of blood. Samples found to contain P. falciparum were further tested by two other commercially available rapid malaria diagnostic tests, ParaSight-F (Becton Dickinson, Cockeysville, Md.) and ICT Malaria P.f. (ICT Diagnostics, Sydney, Australia), both of which detect only P. falciparum. Only 11 of the 17 (65%) P. falciparum-positive blood samples were identified by the ICT and ParaSight-F tests. Thus, OptiMAL correctly identified P. falciparum malaria parasites in patient blood samples more often than did the other two commercially available diagnostic tests and showed an excellent correlation with traditional blood films in the identification of both P. vivax malaria and P. falciparum malaria. We conclude that the OptiMAL test is an effective tool for the rapid diagnosis of malaria.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIG. 1
FIG. 1
OptiMAL sticks showing detection of P. vivax and P. falciparum and a negative serum sample.

References

    1. Beadle C, Long G W, Weiss W R, McElroy P D, Maret S, Oloo A J, Hoffman S L. Diagnosis of malaria by detection of Plasmodium falciparum HRP-2 antigen with a rapid dipstick antigen-capture assay. Lancet. 1994;343:564–568. - PubMed
    1. Collins W E, Jefferey G M. Primaquine resistance in Plasmodium vivax. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1996;55:243–249. - PubMed
    1. Dourado H, Abdon N, Martins S J. Falciparum malaria. Infect Dis Clin N Am. 1994;8:207–223. - PubMed
    1. Garcia M, Kirimoama S, Marlborough D, Leafasia J, Rieckmann K H. Immunochromatographic test for malaria diagnosis. Lancet. 1996;347:1549. - PubMed
    1. Humar A, Ohrt C, Harrington M A, Pillai D, Kain K C. ParaSight F test compared with the polymerase chain reaction and microscopy for the diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in travelers. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1997;56:44–48. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources