COMPARISON OF ICT MALARIA WITH SLIDE MICROSCOPY IN PEDIATRIC MALARIA PATIENTS

Objective: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of rapid malaria test by antigen method in reference to the conventional Light Microscopy. Material and Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at a Private Health Clinic in Tehsil Bara, Khyber Agency, FATA Pakistan, from May 2011 to November 2011. Ninety Eight malaria suspected children less than age 15 years attending the Private Clinic during the study period were included and screened for malaria infection using ICT and slide microscopy. Results: ICT yielded a very high sensitivity (96.1%) and Specificity (95.7%) for Malaria. The false positive rates and False negative rates were also very low, being 4.3% and 3.9% respectively. Conclusion: ICT carries a very high diagnostic yield and can be safely substituted for Slide microscopy in settings where slide microscopy may not be readily available.