ArticlePloS one2013
Statistical properties of parasite density estimators in malaria.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Myxospore density of Kudoa inornata varies significantly within symmetrical white muscle tissue replicates of its fish host, the spotted seatrout, Cynoscion nebulosus.Parasitology research · 2024Article
- A timed tally counter for microscopic examination of thick blood smears in malaria studies.Malaria journal · 2021Article
- Acute Febrile Illness Among Children in Butajira, South-Central Ethiopia During the Typhoid Fever Surveillance in Africa Program.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2019Article
- Malaria parasite density estimated with white blood cells count reference value agrees with density estimated with absolute in children less than 5 years in central ghana.Malaria research and treatment · 2015Article
- Evidence for overdispersion in the distribution of malaria parasites and leukocytes in thick blood smears.Malaria journal · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Malaria is a global health problem responsible for nearly one million deaths every year around 85% of which concern children younger than five years old in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, around 300 million clinical cases are declared every year. The level of infection, expressed as parasite density, is classically defined as the number of asexual parasites relative to a microliter of blood. Microscopy of Giemsa-stained thick blood films is the gold standard for parasite enumeration. Parasite density estimation methods usually involve threshold values; either the number of white blood cells counted or the number of high power fields read. However, the statistical properties of parasite density estimators generated by these methods have largely been overlooked. Here, we studied the statistical properties (mean error, coefficient of variation, false negative rates) of parasite density estimators of commonly used threshold-based counting techniques depending on variable threshold values. We also assessed the influence of the thresholds on the cost-effectiveness of parasite density estimation methods. In addition, we gave more insights on the behavior of measurement errors according to varying threshold values, and on what should be the optimal threshold values that minimize this variability.
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