Area of assessment | WHO protocol recommendation |
---|---|
Study design | Cross-sectional (survey) |
Participants | Symptomatic with fever (axillary temperature of > 37.5 °C) |
Study sites | Distribution of sites in wide range of epidemiological settings; low, moderate and high transmission should be considered |
Size of the study | At least 370 individuals enrolled from 10 randomly selected facilities per survey domain or region is recommended |
Double deletion (pfhrp2 and pfhrp3) versus pfhrp2 Only | Protocol recommends investigation of pfhrp2 and pfhrp3 double deletions as opposed to pfhrp2 gene deletion alone |
Flanking genes | There is no restriction on the inclusion of the upstream and downstream flanking genes. It remains optional only for characterization of sub-telomeric deletions |
Minimum Laboratory Methods Required for confirmation of pfhrp2/3 gene deletions | Suspected Sample should be HRP2 RDT− and Microscopy+ or HRP2 RDT− and Pf-pLDH RDT+ (only discordant samples should be suspected), Confirmation of P. falciparum infection by DNA PCR, demonstration of absence of pfhrp2/3 genes by gene specific PCR and demonstration of presence of single copy genes MSP1 and MSP2 |