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Updated: Jun 1, 2026
A Multi-detection Assay for Malaria Transmitting Mosquitoes
Published on: February 28, 2015
Comparative evaluation of two rapid field tests for malaria diagnosis: Partec Rapid Malaria Test® and Binax Now®
Bernard Nkrumah1, Samuel Ek Acquah, Lukeman Ibrahim
1Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Ghana. skrakyo@yahoo.com
Insights
Two rapid malaria diagnostic tests, Partec Rapid Malaria Test (PT) and Binax Now Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test (BN RDT), showed high accuracy and affordability for diagnosing malaria in children in Ghana. These tests offer a reliable alternative to traditional microscopy in endemic regions.
Area of Science:
- Malariology
- Clinical Diagnostics
- Public Health
Background:
- Malaria disproportionately affects children under five in sub-Saharan Africa, with over 90% of deaths occurring in this demographic.
- Accurate and rapid malaria diagnosis is crucial for effective disease management and treatment initiation.
- Current diagnostic methods need to be sensitive, specific, rapid, and affordable for widespread use in endemic areas.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the diagnostic performance of two novel rapid malaria tests, Partec Rapid Malaria Test (PT) and Binax Now Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test (BN RDT).
- To evaluate these rapid tests against the conventional Giemsa stain microscopy (GM) method for malaria diagnosis in Ghanaian children.
Main Methods:
- Blood samples were collected from 263 febrile children at a rural hospital in Ghana.
- Malaria parasite detection was performed using PT, BN RDT, and Giemsa stain microscopy (GM) independently.
- Results were analyzed with GM serving as the reference standard for comparison.
Main Results:
- Plasmodium sp. was detected in 40.7% of children by GM.
- PT and BN RDT demonstrated high sensitivity (100% and 97.2%, respectively) and specificity (97.4% and 93.6%, respectively) compared to GM.
- Both rapid tests showed strong agreement with microscopy, with average turnaround times of 17 minutes.
Conclusions:
- The Partec Rapid Malaria Test and Binax Now Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test are effective diagnostic tools for malaria in children.
- These rapid tests are affordable, require minimal training, and offer quick results, making them suitable alternatives to microscopy in malaria-endemic regions.
- A limitation is the inability of these tests to identify Plasmodium species.
Background:
About 90% of all malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa occur in children under five years. Fast and reliable diagnosis of malaria requires confirmation of the presence of malaria parasites in the blood of patients with fever or history suggestive of malaria; hence a prompt and accurate diagnosis of malaria is the key to effective disease management. Confirmation of malaria infection requires the availability of a rapid, sensitive, and specific testing at an affordable cost. We compared two recent methods (the novel Partec Rapid Malaria Test® (PT) and the Binax Now® Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test (BN RDT) with the conventional Giemsa stain microscopy (GM) for the diagnosis of malaria among children in a clinical laboratory of a hospital in a rural endemic area of Ghana.
Methods:
Blood samples were collected from 263 children admitted with fever or a history of fever to the pediatric clinic of the Agogo Presbyterian Hospital. The three different test methods PT, BN RDT and GM were performed independently by well trained and competent laboratory staff to assess the presence of malaria parasites. Results were analyzed and compared using GM as the reference standard.
Results:
In 107 (40.7%) of 263 study participants, Plasmodium sp. was detected by GM. PT and BN RDT showed positive results in 111 (42.2%) and 114 (43.4%), respectively. Compared to GM reference standard, the sensitivities of the PT and BN RDT were 100% (95% CI: 96.6-100) and 97.2% (95% CI: 92.0-99.4), respectively, specificities were 97.4% (95% CI: 93.6-99.3) and 93.6% (95% CI: 88.5-96.9), respectively. There was a strong agreement (kappa) between the applied test methods (GM vs PT: 0.97; p < 0.001 and GM vs BN RDT: 0.90; p < 0.001). The average turnaround time per tests was 17 minutes.
Conclusion:
In this study two rapid malaria tests, PT and BN RDT, demonstrated a good quality of their performance compared to conventional GM. Both methods require little training, have short turnaround times, are applicable as well as affordable and can therefore be considered as alternative diagnostic tools in malaria endemic areas. The species of Plasmodium cannot be identified.
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