Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests: Literary Review and Recommendation for a Quality Assurance, Quality Control Algorithm

Malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have had an enormous global impact which contributed to the World Health Organization paradigm shift from empiric treatment to obtaining a parasitological diagnosis prior to treatment. Microscopy, the classic standard, requires significant expertise, equipment, electricity, and reagents. Alternatively, RDT's lower complexity allows utilization in austere environments while achieving similar sensitivities and specificities. Worldwide, there are over 200 different RDT brands that utilize three antigens: Plasmodium histidine-rich protein 2 ( ), Plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH), and Plasmodium aldolase (pALDO). is produced exclusively by and is very sensitive, but an alternative antigen or antigen combination is required for regions like Asia with significant prevalence. RDT sensitivity also decreases with low parasitemia (