Evaluation of Three Different Commercial Brands of Malarial Rapid Diagnostic Tests in Khartoum State - Sudan

Abstract

Malaria remains one of the most important endemic disease that threatens the mankind. The existing, accepted gold standard for diagnosing malaria is the microscopic examination of thick and thin blood smears. This method has the advantage of high sensitivity, quantifiable results, and accurate speciation, but is fairly time consuming and requires well trained staff in order to detect low parasitemia and to properly differentiate the species. The rapid diagnostic tests strips do not require the same level of training, and are also significantly faster. This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of Malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) by testing blood samples on three different brands and comparing the results. It was conducted in Sudan Khartoum state Bahri locality in El-ban Jadeed hospital in a period from April 2020 to June 2021. 498 blood samples were collected, 174 samples were Malaria positive which gave 34.9% as prevalence rate. 50 samples out of 174 selected randomly and each one tested on 3 different RDTs brands (Right sign, Core and Eco) results was as the follow: 27 (54%), 26 (52%) and 22 (44%) for Core, Right sign and Eco respectively. According to parasitemia in the blood film, 15 samples found to be + all the three brands gave negative results, 12 samples + all brands gave negative results also except Right sign only 2 (16%) samples gave positive results, +++ and ++++ all brands gave positive results. The average sensitivity was 50% while the average specificity was 49.3%, based on this study and, companies of rapid diagnostic tests should be submit to farther scrutiny by the Standards and Metrology Authority, with consideration of proper storage to give more accurate results.