ArticleMalaria journal2017
Rapid diagnostic tests failing to detect Plasmodium falciparum infections in Eritrea: an investigation of reported false negative RDT results.
Article in Malaria journal, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 120 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genetic diversity, population structure, and drug resistance of Plasmodium falciparum in Kenya: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Malaria journal · 2025Pooled it
- Detection of asymptomatic malaria in Asian countries: a meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy.Malaria journal · 2022Pooled it
- Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 and 3 genes deletion in global settings (2010-2021): a systematic review and meta-analysis.Malaria journal · 2022Pooled it
- Rapid diagnostic tests for Plasmodium vivax malaria in endemic countries.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Prevalence ofBulletin of the World Health Organization · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Epidemiology of mutant Plasmodium falciparum parasites lacking histidine-rich protein 2/3 genes in Eritrea 2 years after switching from HRP2-based RDTs.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Current practices and innovative diagnostics for Malaria in Ethiopia: a scoping review.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Quality assurance in rapid diagnostic tests for accurate diagnosis of malaria.The Indian journal of medical research · 2026Review
- Molecular, Transcriptomic, and Proteomic Characterization ofmedRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Global risk of selection and spread of Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 and 3 gene deletions.Nature medicine · 2025Article
- Prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum parasites harbouring chloroquine-resistant but not artemisinin-resistant alleles in Busia County, Western Kenya.Malaria journal · 2025Article
- Household practices and infrastructure associated with high Plasmodium falciparum infection rates among children under five years old in Northern Uganda.Malaria journal · 2025Article
- Performance of the Bioline™ Malaria Ag Pf/Pan and Bioline™ Malaria Ag Pf/Pv for Malaria Diagnostics: Madagascar In-Country Evaluation.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2025Article
- Comparing the diagnostic accuracy of the newly introduced and existing malaria tests in Northwest Ethiopia.PloS one · 2025Article
- High Prevalence ofThe Canadian journal of infectious diseases & medical microbiology = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses et de la microbiologie medicale · 2025Review
- Novel isothermal nucleic acid amplification method for detecting malaria parasites.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2024Article
- Evaluating Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests and Microscopy for Detecting Plasmodium Infection and Status of Plasmodium falciparum Histidine-Rich Protein 2/3 Gene Deletions in Southeastern Nigeria.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2024Article
- Limited threat of Plasmodium falciparum pfhrp2 and pfhrp3 gene deletion to the utility of HRP2-based malaria RDTs in Northern Uganda.Malaria journal · 2024Article
- High Prevalence ofJournal of tropical medicine · 2024Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRelatively large number of false-negative malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT) results for microscopically confirmed Plasmodium falciparum cases were reported from five of the six administrative regions of Eritrea in 2015. This activated the Ministry of Health to conduct an initial exploratory investigation. The main objective of the investigation was to confirm the sensitivity of the RDTs in the field in microscopically confirmed malaria cases, identify the possible causes of the failure and recommend further actions to be taken.
methodsA team composed of the National Malaria Control Programme, National Medicines and Food Administration and Laboratory Unit of the Ministry of Health was established to confirm the sensitivity of the SD Bioline
resultsA total of 65 blood specimens (50 P. falciparum, 13 Plasmodium vivax and 2 mixed) confirmed microscopically were tested against the available lots of malaria RDTs. Out of the 50 P. falciparum infected blood specimens, only 10 were confirmed positive with all the lots of PfHRP-2 detecting RDTs making the false negativity rate at 80% [41/51]. The false negative result for RDT targeting PfHRP2 antigen ranged from 65% [11/17] in Gash Barka region to 100% [12/12] in Northern Red Sea Region. In addition, supervisory visits undertaken by the study team have ruled out storage, handling and operator errors as causes of false negative results as the above parameter were found to be up to standards.
conclusionThe investigation confirmed high false-negativity rate in PfHRP-2 detecting RDTs and has ruled out quality of RDTs, storage, handling and operator error as causes of the reported problem. Therefore, molecular characterization of the P. falciparum is highly recommended to explore if parasite characteristics can be considered as causes of false negative results.
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