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WHAT'S NEW THIS SUNDAY: EIGHT ITEMS ON MALARIA DIAGNOSTICS

Monday, 25th of March 2013

• 8 ITEMS ON MALARIA DIAGNOSTICS
  
• READER COMMENT ON RDTs FOR MALARIA
• http://www.childsurvival.net/?content=com_articles&artid=1791

Thanks for these references - plus all the others I receive.

mRDTs are the way forward for improving the accuracy of diagnosis and correct treatment and is becoming even more important with the scale-up of iCCM for pneumonia and other causes of fevers. An area that think needs more research is the use of RDTs for elimination efforts, especially for mapping malaria parasite hotspots, active case detection, investigation and parasite clearance. MACEPA PATH are doing good work in Zambia on this - other places include the GIS work in South Africa. RDTs can be used even in endemic areas to focus malaria control investments in locations with highest malaria - e.g. 95% of malaria limited geographically to 5% of a district - so concentrate investments in this 5% makes sense!

The question is to what extent can RDTs help to find parasites in low prevalence settings? I suspect they would be very useful, especially with expanding CHW programs in many African countries. but there is still confusion - the Burkina Faso study in your list suggests it is better to do presumptive treatment during the none-transmission season.

The other gray area is too what extent to RDTs miss very low density "latent" parasite infections. PCR apparently shows that RDT negative people, can still be infected and therefore contribute to transmission - either at these low levels or during recrudescence

Note the latest paper in Malaria Journal where PCR tests are done on used RDTs to test the accuracy of ersults - at: http://www.malariajournal.com/content/12/1/106/abstract

The other question I have is: in typical rural settings which is more accurate at diagnosing malaria: RDTs or microscopy? A review is needed. I lean towards RDTs doing better than microscopy in the majority of areas in Africa.


Best regards,
Rory Nefdt

• THE ROLE OF RAPID DIAGNOSTIC TESTS IN MANAGING MALARIA
• http://www.childsurvival.net/?content=com_articles&artid=1776

 

• ·         MAJOR REDUCTION IN ANTI-MALARIAL DRUG CONSUMPTION IN SENEGAL AFTER NATION-WIDE INTRODUCTION OF MALARIA RAPID DIAGNOSTIC TESTS

 

• ·         http://www.childsurvival.net/?content=com_articles&artid=1777

 

• ·         MALARIA RAPID TESTING BY COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS IS EFFECTIVE AND SAFE FOR TARGETING MALARIA TREATMENT: RANDOMISED CROSS-OVER TRIAL IN TANZANIA
• ·         http://www.childsurvival.net/?content=com_articles&artid=1778

 

 

• ·         REDUCTIONS IN ARTEMISININ-BASED COMBINATION THERAPY CONSUMPTION AFTER THE NATIONWIDE SCALE UP OF ROUTINE MALARIA RAPID DIAGNOSTIC TESTING IN ZAMBIA
• ·         http://www.childsurvival.net/?content=com_articles&artid=1779

 

 

• ·         INFLUENCE OF RAPID MALARIA DIAGNOSTIC TESTS ON TREATMENT AND HEALTH OUTCOME IN FEVER PATIENTS, ZANZIBAR—A CROSSOVER VALIDATION STUDY

 

• ·         http://www.childsurvival.net/?content=com_articles&artid=1780

 

• MALARIA RAPID DIAGNOSTIC TEST TRANSPORT AND STORAGE CONDITIONS IN BURKINA FASO, SENEGAL, ETHIOPIA AND THE PHILIPPINES

 

• http://www.childsurvival.net/?content=com_articles&artid=1783

 

• ·         ADOPTION OF RAPID DIAGNOSTIC TESTS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF MALARIA, A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF THE GLOBAL FUND PROGRAM DATA, 2005 TO 2010

 

• http://www.childsurvival.net/?content=com_articles&artid=1784