Diagnostic performance of the Standard Q Malaria P.f/Pan Ag rapid diagnostic test in the assessment of asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum carriage in school-aged children in Koubri, Burkina Faso

---

Résumé

Asymptomatic malaria, or asymptomatic carriage of Plasmodium, poses a significant challenge to malaria control and
elimination. Asymptomatic carriage of Plasmodium is particularly common among children living in areas of high transmission.
Microscopic diagnosis and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are the two main methods recommended by the Permanent Secretariat for
Malaria Elimination in Burkina Faso for the biological diagnosis of malaria prior to drug treatment. This study aims to evaluate the
diagnostic performance of the Standard Q Malaria P.f/Pan Ag RDT compared to microscopy in asymptomatic school-aged children in
Koubri, an area with high and stable malaria transmission. Data were collected during a cross-sectional survey of 751 children aged 5 to
15 years residing in the rural commune of Koubri, Burkina Faso. The standard Q Malaria Pf/Pan Ag RDT and thick blood/thin blood smear
were used for laboratory diagnosis. The RDT reported a prevalence of 21.84% compared to 19.04% for microscopy. Compared to
microscopy, used as the reference method, the standard Q Malaria Pf/Pan Ag RDT showed a sensitivity of 69.5% and a specificity of
95.1%, with positive and negative predictive values of 0.79 and 0.91, respectively. These results show that despite its modest sensitivity,
the standard Q Malaria Pf/Pan Ag RDT is suitable for community-based diagnosis in asymptomatic carriers.

Mots-clés

asymptomatic malaria, RDT standard Malaria Q, performance.