Performances of Malaria P.f/Pan Rapid Test Device Acon® (Pf HRP2/pan aldolase) and Malaria Pf Rapid Test Device Acon® (Pf HRP2) for the diagnosis of malaria in adults and children living in Gabon, Central Africa

The Malaria Pf Rapid Test Device Acon (R) (Acon Labs) and the pan HRP2/aldolase RDT, Malaria P.f/Pan Rapid Test Device Acon (R) (Acon Labs), performances were evaluated for malaria species diagnosis in 592 febrile patients living in Gabon using microscopy as gold standard. Sensitivities were equal or above 96.0% for Plasmodium falciparum detection, of 62.5% for non-P. falciparum malaria species detection and higher in younger children (100%). Negative predictive values were greater than 97.0%. Acon (R) HRP2 had a higher specificity (96.6%) and lower false-positive (FP) rate (93%) compared to Acon (R) Pf/Pan, which had a specificity of 87.3% and a FP rate of 27.1% (P < 0.01). Overall, 32.5% of all Acon (R) Pf/Pan tests resulted in a "faint band" with only 2 resulted from samples with a parasitemia below 100 p/mu L. The accuracy of Acon (R) HRP2 RDT for the diagnosis of P. falciparum infection is confirmed. However, the high FP rate observed with Acon (R) Pf/Pan is a limitation for its use. (c) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.