A bedside dipstick method to detect Plasmodium falciparum
Shah, I.; Deshmukh, C.T.
Indian Pediatrics 41(11): 1148-1151
2004
ISSN/ISBN: 0019-6061 PMID: 15591666 Document Number: 237778
We conducted this study to determine the efficacy of ParaSight-F (an HRP-II antigen dipstick method to detect P. falciparum) in children. A total of 30 children in the age group of 2 months to 12 years, whose peripheral smear showed asexual forms of P. falciparum, were enrolled. All patients were tested for the presence of the HRP-II antigen of P. falciparum in their blood by the ParaSight-F dipstick test, by either an EDTA sample or a finger prick blood sample. The sensitivity of ParaSight-F was 83.3% (25 of 30 patients). However, the sensitivity of ParaSight-F to detect P. falciparum in cases of mixed Plasmodium (vivax + falciparum) infection was only 25% (1 of 4). Also, all 3 patients less than 6 months of age had a negative ParaSight-F test. Parasitic index, prior treatment with antimalarials or severity of falciparum malaria have no effect on the sensitivity of the ParaSight-F test. We conclude that ParaSight-F is an effective tool for diagnosis of P. falciparum malaria in children.