[Comparative study of four malaria diagnostic techniques used in Ivory Coast]

The biological diagnosis of malaria plays an important part in the patients' treatment for malaria. Thus, many techniques have been developed to reach this purpose. We have compared four of them concerning 196 patients from October, 1996 to January, 1997 in Abidjan. Thick blood film has been chosen as the technique for reference. It has come out that the plasmodic index was 18.3%. The Plasmodium falciparum has been the only encountered species. The different sensitivities of the QBC test and of the Parasight F test reached 100% against 83.3% in the case of the thin blood film. The QBC test and the thin blood film had each a specificity of 100% against 88.1% for the Parasight F test. Unlike the QBC test, the thick blood film and the thin blood film have remained the most difficult to be realised. Therefore, the analysis of parameters of credibility (sensitivity, specificity), predictable values and the time involved will allow in a given situation to use the appropriate biological diagnosis technique.