Carestart malaria pf pv combo test

Blood sample from patients presented with history of fever within the previous 48 h was taken using finger prick by trained clinical nurses employed by the MalTrials project. Rapid diagnostic test (RDT) was performed in the health post using CareStart^® Malaria Pf/Pv combo test (Access Bio, Inc., Somerset, NJ, USA).

The outcome variable was malaria case incidence (having had at least one episode of malaria infection) during the whole follow-up period. Cases of malaria were identified by active (weekly follow-up to each HH) and passive (self-report to nearby tailored health facilities) means among those having had a fever or history of fever in the previous 48 hours. Both Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax infections were counted. Blood tests were performed using rapid diagnostic test kits (CareStart® Malaria Pf/Pv combo test; Access Bio, Inc., Somerset, NJ).

The primary outcome measure was malaria incidence determined by the detection of P. falciparum or P. vivax by rapid diagnosis tests (RDTs; CareStart Malaria Pf/Pv combo test; Access Bio Inc, NJ, USA) in patients with a fever or having a history of fever within the previous 48 h upon arrival to health posts by active and passive case detection (see “Data collection methods” for details). The other main outcome was anaemia and Hb concentration in children under the age of 5 years which was measured using a portable photometer (Hb310 analyser, HemoCue^® AB, Angelhom, Sweden) at the end of each transmission season.