Paper Details

Evaluation of immunochromatographic (ICT) assay and microscopy for malaria diagnosis in endemic district dera ismail khan

Zahid Ullah, Badshah Noor, Muhammad Faisal Nadeem, Azam Hayyat, Aamer Ali Khattak

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.12692/ijb/6.8.37-42

Int. J. Biosci. 6(8), 37-42. April, 2015. (PDF)

Abstract:

This study was designed to compare the specificity and sensitivity of immunochromatographic technique (ICT) for malaria with microscopy of Geimsa stained slide. Dera Ismail Khan (D.I.Khan) is malaria endemic region with problem of accurate, efficient and rapid malaria diagnosis. So to evaluate ICT device efficacy to use as substitute of microscopy in malaria parasite diagnose in remote areas like D.I.Khan. This Study was conducted at a Private Health centre in district D.I.Khan, KPK, Pakistan from March 2014 to October 2014. Four hundreds and seventy patients aged from 03 to 60 years irrespective of gender were included in this study. EDTA whole blood was taken for microscopy and ICT malaria capable of P. falciparum detecting specific histidine rich protein II antigens (Pf.HRP-II) and P. vivax specific lactate dehydrogenase enzyme (Pv.LDH) in patient’s serum. ICT Test procedure were performed and interpreted according to the manufacturer’s instructions. A total 470 patients were enrolled in this study, out of which 194 were found positive for Plasmodium infection, P. falciparum 10 (2.1 %), P. vivax 184 (39 %) and 276 were declared negative by microscopy as well as by ICT method. Data analysis showed that ICT with overall sensitivity of was 100 % (95% confidence interval (CI): 98.10 to 100.00 %), while specificity was 99.28% (95% CI: 97.40 % to 99.89 %). From this study, it is suggested that ICT rapid technique could be used an alternative to microscopy for the diagnosis of malaria in those area where microscopy is not available.