ArticlePloS one2020
Point prevalence of asymptomatic Plasmodium infection and the comparison of microscopy, rapid diagnostic test and nested PCR for the diagnosis of asymptomatic malaria among children under 5 years in Ghana.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and determinants of asymptomatic malaria infection among schoolchildren in Africa: insights from a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Pooled it
- Uncovering silent malaria reservoirs in Southern Ethiopia: community-based molecular detection of asymptomatic and sub-microscopic infections and their implications for diagnosis and control.Malaria journal · 2026Article
- Article
- Socio-economic inequalities in malaria prevalence among under-five children in Ghana between 2016 and 2019: a decomposition analysis.Malaria journal · 2025Review
- Prevalence and epidemiological characteristics of asymptomatic malaria in Sucre, Venezuela: a 2022 cross-sectional study.Malaria journal · 2025Article
- Plasma Soluble Progenitor Cell Receptors as Biomarkers for Severe Anemia Among Malaria-Infected Pediatrics: A Prospective Study in Ghana.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Current Status of Malaria Control and Elimination in Africa: Epidemiology, Diagnosis, Treatment, Progress and Challenges.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2024Review
- Pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines mediate the progression of severe anemia in malaria-infected children: A prospective study.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2024Article
- The temporal dynamics of Plasmodium species infection after artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) among asymptomatic children in the Hohoe municipality, Ghana.Malaria journal · 2023Article
- Malaria therapeutics: are we close enough?Parasites & vectors · 2023Review
- AsymptomaticJournal of tropical medicine · 2023Article
- Impact of Malaria Diagnostic Technologies on the Disease Burden in the Sub-Saharan Africa.Journal of tropical medicine · 2022Review
- Assessing Asymptomatic Malaria Carriage ofChildren (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests: Literary Review and Recommendation for a Quality Assurance, Quality Control Algorithm.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Subclinical malaria among pregnant women living in refugee settlements in Northern Uganda.Therapeutic advances in infectious diseaseArticle
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPlasmodium infection among children is a serious public health problem. Asymptomatic malaria infection among humans serves as a significant reservoir for transmitting Plasmodium to uninfected Anopheles mosquitoes, fueling malaria endemicity and asymptomatic malaria may progress to clinical malaria. Therefore, prompt and accurate diagnosis of malaria infection is crucial for the management and control of malaria, especially in endemic areas. This study assessed the point prevalence of asymptomatic malaria infection and evaluated the performance of malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT), light microscopy and nested PCR (nPCR) for the diagnosis of asymptomatic malaria infection in a paediatric population in the Atwima Nwabiagya North district, Ghana.
methodsThis cross-sectional study enrolled 500 asymptomatic children aged ≤ 5 years. After consent was obtained from a parent, blood samples were collected from each participant to assess for Plasmodium infection based on histidine rich protein-2 (pfHRP-2)-based malaria RDT, light microscopy and nPCR.
resultsThe point prevalence of asymptomatic malaria by microscopy, RDT, and nPCR were 116/500 (23.2%), 156/500 (31.2%), and 184/500 (36.8%), respectively. Using nPCR as the reference, RDT presented with a perfect sensitivity (100.0%), specificity (100.0%), accuracy (100.0%), and reliability (100.0%) in detecting asymptomatic P. falciparum infection. Likewise, microscopy presented with an excellent specificity and high accuracy in detecting both P. falciparum (100.0%; 85.6%) and P. malariae (100.0%; 100.0%). However, the sensitivity (56.4%) and reliability (56.4%) of microscopy was low for both P. falciparum.
conclusionThe findings of this study indicate a high point prevalence of asymptomatic Plasmodium infection among children in Atwima Nwabiagya North district, Ghana. In the absence of the more sensitive PCR, pfHRP-2-based malaria RDT provides substantial diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and reliability and is superior to microscopy.
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