Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 9, 2026

Field Postmortem Rabies Rapid Immunochromatographic Diagnostic Test for Resource-Limited Settings with Further Molecular Applications
Published on: June 29, 2020
Using Reference Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction to Assess the Clinical Performance of the Paracheck-Pf® Rapid
Catherine J Mitran1, Anthony K Mbonye2,3, Michael Hawkes4
1School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Abstract:
Malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are widely used in clinical and surveillance settings. However, the performance of most RDTs has not been characterized at parasite densities below detection by microscopy. We present findings from Uganda, where RDT results from 491 participants with suspected malaria were correlated with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-defined parasitemia. Compared with qPCR, the sensitivity and specificity of the RDT for Plasmodium falciparum mono-infections were 76% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 68-83%) and 95% (95% CI: 92-97%), respectively. The sensitivity of the RDT at parasite densities between 0.2 and 200 parasites/μL was surprisingly high (87%, 95% CI: 74-94%). The high sensitivity of the RDT is likely because of histidine-rich protein 2 from submicroscopic infections, gametocytes, or sequestered parasites. These findings underscore the importance of evaluating different RDTs in field studies against qPCR reference testing to better define the sensitivity and specificity, particularly at low parasite densities.
Related Concept Videos
Translesion DNA Polymerases
TLS polymerases are found in all three domains of life - archaea, bacteria, and eukaryotes. Of the different classes of TLS polymerases, members of the Y family are fitted with specialized structures that...
Pericarditis II: Clinical Features and Diagnostic Tests
Atherosclerosis II: Clinical Manifestations and Diagnostic Tests
Aneurysm II: Clinical Manifestations and Diagnostic Studies
Myocarditis II: Clinical Features and Diagnostic Tests
Bacterial RNA Polymerase
In most genes, the transcription site is a single base present upstream of the coding sequence. Though RNAP is a catalytically efficient enzyme, it does not recognize...

