Comparison of a rapid dipstick test and thick blood films for detecting parasites of plasmodium falciparum used under typical conditions at a semi-rural hospital in Cote d'Ivoire.

This prospective study compares a rapid dipstick test (ParaSight-F) with thick blood films for the detection of parasites of P falciparum, under 'typical' conditions and constraints to be found in a semi-rural hospital in a tropical developing country in Africa. Eighty-two samples were tested using the two techniques and found to concur in 95.1% of cases. However, in four of the samples the results differed. The thick blood films of 60 samples were later re-read by a local reference laboratory. Of these 98.3% were in agreement with the reading performed at the hospital. Only one of the 60 slides differed. The rapid dipstick test proved to be both easy to use and free from many of the usual constraints such as a need for formally trained or experienced laboratory staff, laboratory equipment, and reliable water and electricity supplies. In an holoendemic area for P falciparum transmission, it would appear to be eminently suitable, in technical terms and ease of handling as well as on the basis of rapid results, for wider distribution within this region. Its main drawback remains financial.