Comparison of three diagnostic methods (microscopy, RDT, and PCR) for the detection of malaria parasites in representative samples from Equatorial Guinea

Table 1 Diagnostic results with each method

	RDT			Microscopy			SnM-PCR			P-value
	N	%	95% CI	N	%	95% CI	N	%	95% CI	P-value
Negative samples	963	56	55.3–58.2	1069	62	59.7–64.3	937	54	52–56.7	< 0.001
Positive samples	761	44	41.8–46.5	655	38	35.7–40.3	787	46	43.3–48	< 0.001
P. falciparum	527	69.2	65.9–72.4	571	87.2	84.4–89.5	763	97	95.5–97.9	< 0.001
P. vivax	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	0.1	0–0.7	–
P. ovale				2	0.3	0.1–1.1	5	0.6	0.3–1.5	0.457
P. malariae	–	–	–	9	1.4	0.7–2.6	3	0.4	0.1–1.1	0.002
Mixed infection	212	27.8	24.8–31.1	–	–	–	15	1.9	1.2–3.1	< 0.001
UK	22	2.9	1.9–4.3	2	0.3	0.1–1.1	–	–	–	< 0.001
WD	–	–	–	71	10.8	8.7–13.5	–	–	–	–

Results of the diagnosis by RDT, microscopy, and SnM-PCR, N = 1724 samples in all the cases. Appears indicated the total number of samples detected as negative and positive, within the latter the species of Plasmodium or mixed infections detected. UK: positive but unknown species; WD: without diagnosis. The percentage of every species was calculated in relation to the total positive samples in each case
Italic values indicate significance of P-value (≤ 005)

ISSN: 1475-2875