Evaluation of the malaria rapid diagnostic test VIKIA malaria Ag Pf/Pan™ in endemic and non-endemic settings

Background: Malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are a useful tool in endemic malaria countries, where light microscopy is not feasible. In non-endemic countries they can be used as complementary tests to provide timely results in case of microscopy inexperience. This study aims to compare the new VIKIA Malaria Ag Pf/Pan (TM) RDT with PCR-corrected microscopy results and the commonly used CareStart (TM) RDT to diagnose falciparum and non-falciparum malaria in the endemic setting of Bamako, Mali and the non-endemic setting of Lyon, France. Methods: Blood samples were collected during a 12-months and six-months period in 2011 from patients suspected to have malaria in Lyon and Bamako respectively. The samples were examined by light microscopy, the VIKIA Malaria Ag Pf/Pan (TM) test and in Bamako additionally with the CareStart (TM) RDT. Discordant results were corrected by real-time PCR. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were used to evaluate test performance. Results: Samples of 877 patients from both sites were included. The VIKIA Malaria Ag Pf/Pan (TM) had a sensitivity of 98% and 96% for Plasmodium falciparum in Lyon and Bamako, respectively, performing similar to PCR-corrected microscopy. Conclusions: The VIKIA Malaria Ag Pf/Pan (TM) performs similar to PCR-corrected microscopy for the detection of P. falciparum, making it a valuable tool in malaria endemic and non-endemic regions.