Abstract:

Peripheral blood was collected from suspected malaria patients in the China-Gabonas Hospital of Libreville in Gabon, from February 2017 to February 2018. The blood samples were examined by the Colloidal-Gold Detection Kit for Plasmodium falciparum antigen. Meanwhile, microscopy was performed as the gold standard to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the kit. A total of 120 suspected patients participated in this study, including 50 Chinese cases and 70 local residents. The colloidal-gold method revealed a positive rate for P. falciparum of 50.8% (61/120), while microscopy revealed a positive rate for malaria parasite of 46.7% (56/120), including 52 with P. falciparum, 3 with P. vivax, and 1 with P. ovale. There was no significant difference between the two methods (P > 0.05). The sensitivity and the specificity of the Colloidal Gold Detection Kit were 98.4% and 100%, respectively, indicating a good performance for P. falciparum.

Key words: Malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, Colloidal gold rapid detection, Microscopy, Gabon