Field Performance of Wondfo and SD Bioline Malaria Pf/Pan Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Malaria Diagnosis in Koraput District, Odisha State, India

Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have now been recommended and brought to field operation by the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP). The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of two commonly used RDTs; Wondfo and SD Bioline Malaria Pf/Pan for malaria diagnosis in an endemic area of Koraput district, Odisha state. A total of 100 clinically suspected malaria patients at Narayanpatna Community Health Center (CHC) in Koraput district were diagnosed for malaria infection by both microscopy and the two RDTs. Keeping microscopy as the golden standard, sensitivity and specificity of the two RDTs were calculated. Out of the 100 patients recruited for this study, malaria parasites were found in 28 patients by microscopy, of which 42.8%, 17.8%, and 39.3% were Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum/P. vivax mixed infections, respectively. The sensitivity of both Wondfo and SD Pf/Pan device was 78.3% and the specificity was 83.1% and 81.8%, respectively for the detection of P. falciparum. The sensitivity and specificity of the SD Pf/Pan device for the detection of P. vivax was 94.0% and 81.0%, respectively. The Wondfo and the SD Bioline Malaria Pf/Pan RDTs performed lower for the diagnosis of P. falciparum compared to the gold standard microscopy. Therefore, the accuracy of both the RDTs needs to be improved by enhancing its sensitivity for better management of febrile patients in the endemic situation.