Abstract:

Objective To probe the effect of rapid diagnostic test in the diagnosis of malaria, and provide reference for clinical application. Methods 103 suspicious cases of malaria were checked with rapid diagnostic test and microscopy method. Results 23 positive cases were detected by microscopy method (Pf 11 cases, Pv 10 cases, Pm and Po 1 case each) with positive rate of 22.33%, and 22 positive cases were detected by rapid diagnostic test (Pf 11 cases, Pv 10 cases, Pm 1 case) with positive rate of 21.36%. One Po case was not detected by rapid diagnostic test. There was no significant difference between the two methods (χ2=0.33, P>0.05). The sensitivity of the rapid diagnostic test was 95.65%, with the specificity of 97.5%, the positive predictive value of 91.67%, the negative predictive value of 98.73%, the missing rate of 4.35%, and the misdiagnosis rate of 2.50%. Conclusion The rapid diagnostic test had good effect on the diagnosis of malaria with advantage of simple and fast, and very suitable for grass-roots level medical treatment and disease prevention units which have insufficient microscopy equipment and techniques to carry out the diagnosis of malaria.

Key words: Malaria, Rapid diagnostic test, Microscopy method