COMPARATIVE DIAGNOSIS OF MALARIA USING ROUTINE MICROSCOPY AND RAPID DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUE WITH LACTAN DEHYDROGENASE

Abstract

This study investigated the comparative analysis of rapid diagnostic techniques (RDT) and microcospy for malaria diagnosis using a population of clients attending National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Research Clinic. Two hundred and fifty-one clients with a clinical suspicion of malaria based on fever from Idu and surrounding communities were tested with both methods. Diagnostic test outcomes were separated into different age groups to assess the impact of age on test outcome. The significance of age-groups was assessed with Chi-Squared test at 95% confidence interval. Of the 251 clients
110(43.82%) were positive by RDT, compared to 87(34.66%) by microscopy. The difference between the two methods was not statistically significant (Tab. t = 2.306 > Cal t = 0.3833; p > 0.05). Rapid diagnostic technique RDT test, detected malaria more in age group 11-20 years (17.3%) and 21-30 years old 38(15.14%), though lower in older ages 31 - ≥50 years (<7%). Using Chi-Squared (χ2), there was no significant difference in the detection of malaria in the age groups (Tab χ2=9.488 > Cal χ 2 df.4, 1 = 3.32, p > 0.05). In relation to sex, seroprevalence of malaria parasite was higher 41(35.96%) males compared to 46(35.58%) females with
no significant difference (Tab χ2 = 9.488 > Cal χ2 =df.4, 1 = 4.58; p > 0.05). In all, RDT detected higher values in both sexes 51(44.74%) and 59(43.07%) for males and females respectively. The Pf (HRPII/PAN-LDH); HRP2-based RDT showed higher sensitivity compared to microscopy in detection of malaria and may perhaps be more appropriate for screening of malaria infection. Large scaleassessment of RDT for malaria screening is endorsed forPrimary Health Care (PHC) centres, and field research on malaria studies.