Study of the diagnostic accuracy of microbiological techniques in the diagnosis of malaria in the immigrant population in Madrid

Résumé fourni par la source

BACKGROUND: Malaria is currently the most important human parasitic disease in the world responsible for high morbidity and mortality. Appropriate diagnostic methods are essential for early detection. Microscopy examination remains the gold standard, although molecular techniques have higher sensitivity and are very useful in cases of low parasitaemia and mixed infections. The objective of this study was to evaluate a new commercial molecular diagnostic technique. METHODS: Malaria + 4 RDT), microscopy examination, and two commercial molecular malaria tests (FTD Malaria and FTD Malaria Differentiation), then compared against an in-house reference PCR technique. RESULTS: In all, 250 patients were included: 164 (65.6%) in the asymptomatic group, and 86 (34.4%) in the symptomatic group. There were seven cases of asymptomatic parasitaemia (prevalence = 2.8%) that were detected only by molecular methods. In the symptomatic group, there were seven cases of submicroscopic malaria. The main species detected was Plasmodium falciparum (96.6%). The commercial molecular technique had higher sensitivity than the other methods (S = 96%) and a high rate of concordance with the in-house reference PCR technique (Kappa score = 0.93). CONCLUSIONS: The molecular techniques, although slower than microscopy, have adequate diagnostic accuracy and are very useful for the detection of P. falciparum in cases with low parasitaemia.