The role of rapid diagnostic test in malaria prevention

The article was professionally consulted with Master, Doctor Nguyen Thi Nhat - Infectious Diseases Doctor - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital.

Malaria is considered a dangerous infectious disease caused by the malaria parasite Plasmodium. This parasite exists in the body of an anophen mosquito, if a person is bitten by this mosquito, the parasite will then transfer into the blood vessels and cause malaria.
The incubation period of malaria will vary from patient to patient depending on the type of parasite:
When infected with Plasmodium Falciparum: incubation period is usually shortest, symptoms usually persist from 9 to 14 days; When infected with Plasmodium Vivax: incubation period is longer, symptoms usually persist from 12 to 17 days; When infected with Plasmodium Malariae: symptoms usually persist for 20 to several months; When infected with Plasmodium Ovale: this is the most dangerous parasite, causing many different symptoms and has an incubation period of up to 10 months. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies malaria into 2 main categories:
1.1. Common malaria This form of the disease will not be life-threatening, and includes symptoms that are common in the early stages of the disease. Common malaria is divided into 3 types:
Primary fever: This type of fever usually appears first, the patient has a high fever continuously for several days. This symptom is often confused with other common illnesses such as a cold or the flu. Typical fever: Typical fever will be divided into 3 different stages. In the chilling stage, the patient's whole body is in a state of intense chills, pale lips, goosebumps; Usually lasts from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Next is the hot fever phase, at this time the patient's body begins to gradually heat up, the body temperature can reach 41 degrees Celsius, the skin is dry and red, headache and thirst, heart palpitations, breathing forcefully and often drag up to 3 hours long. Finally, the stage of sweating, at this time the patient's body temperature decreases, sweating a lot, thirst, headache decreases; This is the period when the patient feels most comfortable. Truncated fever: This is a common type of fever in people who have had malaria for many years. The fevers do not appear in waves, the patient only shows severe chills and cannot be warmed up by wearing more clothes or blankets, which can usually last from 1 to 2 hours. Cold parasites: Only those who have been cured of the disease are classified as this type, the reason is that the infected person's body still has pathogens. These cases, when tested for malaria, still show positive results for the disease, but do not show any malaria symptoms, and their health is stable and normal.

1.2. Malignant fever In this form of disease, medical experts divide it into 4 types:
Cold form: When the patient in this form will have symptoms such as: cold whole body, low blood pressure, sweating a lot, skin pale green, severe headache. Cerebral body: Symptoms can be encountered including: disturbances of consciousness, severe headache, high fever, uncontrolled diarrhea, ... These are all signs of pre-malignancy, so when diagnosed with cerebral malaria, the patient has a high mortality rate. Digestive system: Severe abdominal pain appears, accompanied by symptoms of nausea, diarrhea and hypothermia. Liver: Because of liver-related damage, there are typical symptoms such as: yellow sclera, yellow skin, yellow stools and urine. In addition, the patient may experience nausea or vomiting. SEE ALSO: The principles of malaria treatment

Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) play an extremely important role in the diagnosis of malaria. Through it, doctors can determine the presence of malaria parasite antigens in the blood of infected people. This is a diagnostic method with a very high sensitivity of up to 95% at a density of 100 parasites/μl of blood for Plasmodium Falciparum.
Based on the presence of pLDH (parasite-Specific Lactase Dehydrogenase) or HRP2 (Histidine-Rich Protein-2), conventional malaria tests can diagnose only one species of P.falciparum. In fact, there are now more rapid diagnostic tests on the market that can help identify 2 or 3 species of malaria parasites. However, in areas where P. vivax has a relatively high prevalence, rapid diagnostic tests that detect multiple species should be used.
Several types of rapid diagnostic tests are used to support the current diagnosis of malaria parasites:
Determine MalariaPf. (ABBOTT) ICT F, ICT F+V (Binax Inc.) MAKRO med Malaria Pf. Paracheck Pf. (Orchid Biomed, India) ParaSight F, ParaSight F+V (BD) Quorum Pf. (PATH) OptiMAL F+V (DiaMed) Although the rapid diagnostic test cannot replace the gold standard in the diagnosis of malaria parasites, it still plays an extremely important role. Rapid diagnostic tests offer excellent performance in use cases for armed forces stationed in malaria endemic areas; in spots the microscope does not work well; in deep-lying and remote areas; case screening during an outbreak;...

The following lifestyles and home measures can help you effectively prevent malaria:
Periodically spray insecticides on the walls of your home; When sleeping, you must keep the nets down to avoid the risk of being bitten by mosquitoes; Keep your home space dry and clean. You can use antibacterial solutions such as dettol, phenyl to clean the house and toilet; Wear long pants and long-sleeve shirts to keep out mosquitoes, especially when there is a widespread malaria epidemic; Do not let standing water or stagnant ponds near the house because these are the places where mosquitoes easily gather to breed; When diagnosed with malaria, the patient should be given liquid food. If you suspect you have malaria symptoms, you need to go to a medical facility for a quick diagnostic test to confirm the diagnosis. Malaria is a very dangerous infectious disease, so everyone needs to take preventive measures to avoid possible dangerous complications.