The rapid manual parasight®-f test. a new diagnostic tool for Plasmodium falciparum infection

A rapid manual test for Plasmodium falciparum, the ParaSight®-F test, has been used on a series of patients in a holoendemic malaria area of coastal Tanzania. The test, which is an antigen capture test detecting trophozoite-derived histidine rich protein-II, is simple to perform and provides a definitive answer in about 10 min. It requires no special equipment and is read using a single drop of blood. When compared with 272 thick blood films examined microscopically by 2 observers and confirmed by the QBC® malaria test, the ParaSight®-F test had 88·9% sensitivity and 87·5% specificity. Detectable antigenaemia in a group of 40 people declined following treatment with Fansidar® and by 10 d after treatment all but 4 individuals were antigen free. The remaining 4, although clear of peripheral parasitaemia, remained antigenaemic for 14 d. The test shows great promise for rapid effective diagnosis of P. falciparum in clinics and village health centres where there is no facility for microscopy. Because of its accuracy and rapid action it may even obviate the need for microscopical examination of blood films to diagnose P. falciparum malaria.