Title
Comparative evaluation of rapid diagnostic test and peripheral smear microscopy for malaria diagnosis
Authors
Mayuri Bhise1, Garima Anandani2,*, Parth Goswami2, Abhishek Padhi1 & Ashwini Agarwal1
Affiliation
1Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rajkot, Gujarat, India; 2Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rajkot, Gujarat, India; *Corresponding author
Mayuri Bhise - E-mail: mayuri.umrao@gmail.com
Garima Anandani - E-mail: garima_anandani@yahoo.in
Parth Goswami - E-mail: goswamiparth42@gmail.com
Abhishek Padhi - E-mail: abhi038450@gmail.com
Ashwini Agarwal - E-mail: ash.afmc@gmail.com
Article Type
Research Article
Date
Received August 1, 2025; Revised August 31, 2025; Accepted August 31, 2025, Published August 31, 2025
Abstract
Malaria remains a major public health concern and accurate diagnosis is essential for effective management. This retrospective study compared the diagnostic performance of immunochromatographic rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) and peripheral blood smear (PBS) microscopy in India. A total of 150 suspected malaria cases were tested using both methods, with PBS confirming 30 positives (20%) and RDT detecting 20 positives (13.33%), all as Plasmodium vivax. PBS detected both P. vivax and P. falciparum, while RDT failed to identify P. falciparum but detected two P. vivax cases missed by PBS. Thus, we show that while RDT cannot fully replace PBS microscopy, it serves as a useful complementary tool for malaria diagnosis.
Keywords
Malaria, peripheral blood smear microscopy, immunochromatographic rapid diagnostic card test, diagnostic performance.
Citation
Bhise et al. Bioinformation 21(8): 2795-2798 (2025)
Edited by
Hiroj Bagde
ISSN
0973-2063
Publisher
License
This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
