ArticleMalaria journal2019
Non-invasive surveillance of Plasmodium infection by real-time PCR analysis of ethanol preserved faeces from Ugandan school children with intestinal schistosomiasis.
Article in Malaria journal, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Over-dispersion in malaria-schistosoma co-infection: insights from a meta-analytical approach and systematic review.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2026Pooled it
- Accuracy of malaria diagnostic tests performed on non-invasively collected samples: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ global health · 2021Pooled it
- High value of rapid diagnostic tests to diagnose malaria within children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of global health · 2020Pooled it
- Head-to-head evaluation of a commercial real-time PCR assay targeting plasmodial species causing human malaria against a composite reference standard.European journal of microbiology & immunology · 2026Article
- A Perspective on Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance as a Public Health Tool for Low- and Middle-Income Countries.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Consistent detection of Trypanosoma brucei but not T. congolense DNA in faeces of experimentally infected cattle.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Detection ofDiagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Molecular Detection and Characterization of Intestinal and Blood Parasites in Wild Chimpanzees (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests: Literary Review and Recommendation for a Quality Assurance, Quality Control Algorithm.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Detection of malaria parasites in dried human blood spots using mid-infrared spectroscopy and logistic regression analysis.Malaria journal · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAs part of ongoing co-surveillance of intestinal schistosomiasis and malaria in Ugandan school children, a non-invasive detection method for amplification of Plasmodium DNA using real-time (rt)PCR analysis of ethanol preserved faeces (EPF) was assessed. For diagnostic tabulations, results were compared to rtPCR analysis of dried blood spots (DBS) and field-based point-of-care (POC) rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs).
methodsA total of 247 school children from 5 primary schools along the shoreline of Lake Albert were examined with matched EPF and DBS obtained. Mean prevalence and prevalence by school was calculated by detection of Plasmodium DNA by rtPCR using a 18S rDNA Taqman
resultsBy rtPCR of EPF and DBS, 158 (63.9%; 95% CI 57.8-69.7) and 198 (80.1%, 95% CI 74.7-84.6) children were positive for Plasmodium spp. By RDT, 138 (55.8%; 95% CI 49.6-61.9) and 45 (18.2%; 95% CI 13.9-23.5) children were positive for Plasmodium falciparum, and with non-P. falciparum co-infections, respectively. Using RDT results as a convenient field-based reference, the sensitivity of rtPCR of EPF and DBS was 73.1% (95% CI 65.2-79.8) and 94.2% (95% CI 88.9-97.0) while specificity was 47.7% (95% CI 38.5-57.0) and 37.6% (95% CI 29.0-46.9), respectively. With one exception, school prevalence estimated by analysis of EPF was higher than that by RDT. Positive and negative predictive values were compared and discussed.
conclusionsIn this high transmission setting, EPF sampling with rtPCR analysis has satisfactory diagnostic performance in estimation of mean prevalence and prevalence by school upon direct comparison with POC-RDTs. Although analysis of EPF was judged inferior to that of DBS, it permits an alternative non-invasive sampling regime that could be implemented alongside general monitoring and surveillance for other faecal parasites. EPF analysis may also have future value in passive surveillance of low transmission settings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.