Diagnosis &Research Bill Brieger | 10 Nov 2016 09:37 am
Urine Rapid Diagnostic Test for Malaria: Results Published
Results of testing the innovative Urine Rapid Diagnostic Test for Malaria developed by Fyodor Biotech have been published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology. Authors from multiple collaborating institutions include Wellington A. Oyibo, Nnenna Ezeigwe, Godwin Ntadom, Oladipo O. Oladosu, Kaitlin Rainwater, Wendy O’Meara, Evaezi Okpokoro, and William Brieger. The abstract appears below.
Background: The need to expand malaria diagnosis alongside policy requirements for mandatory testing before treatment motivates exploration of non-invasive rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). We report the outcome of the first cross-sectional, single-blind clinical performance evaluation of a Urine Malaria Test (UMT) for Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) malaria diagnosis in febrile patients.
Methods: Matched urine and fingerprick blood from participants ?2 years with fever (axillary temperature ?37.5°C) or history of fever in the preceding 48 hours were tested with UMT and microscopy (as gold standard). BinaxNOW® (Pf/Pan) blood RDT was done to assess relative performance. Urinalysis and Rheumatoid Factor (RF) tests were conducted to evaluate possible interference. Diagnostic performance characteristics were computed at 95% CI.
UMT is winner of innovations prize
Results: Of 1,800 participants screened, 1,691 were enrolled; 566 (34%) were febrile, 1,125 (66%) afebrile; test positivity among enrolled participants: 341 (20%) by microscopy, 419 (25%) UMT, 676 (40%) BinaxNow Pf and 368 (22%) BinaxNow Pan. UMT sensitivity among febrile patients (for whom the test is indicated) was 85% and specificity 84%. Among febrile children ?5 years, UMT sensitivity was 93%, specificity 83%. Area under receiver-operator characteristic curve (AUC) of UMT (0.84) was not significantly different from Binax Pf (0.86) or Binax Pan (0.87), indicating that the tests do not differ in overall performance. Gender, seasons, and RF did not impact UMT performance. Leukocytes, hematuria and urobilinogen concentration in urine were associated with lower UMT specificity.
Conclusion: UMT performance was comparable to BinaxNOW Pf/Pan tests, and is a promising tool to expand malaria testing in public and private healthcare settings where there are challenges to blood-based malaria diagnosis testing.