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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2000, p. 1184-1186, Vol. 38, No. 3
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of
Medicine, Kuwait University, Safat 13110,1 and
Malaria Laboratory, Ministry of Health,
Kuwait,2 Kuwait, and HEALTHNET,
Peshawar, Pakistan3
Received 16 September 1999/Returned for modification 11 November
1999/Accepted 21 December 1999
Recently introduced rapid nonmicroscopic immunocapture assays for
the diagnosis of malaria infection are being evaluated for their
sensitivity and specificity in various epidemiological settings. A
Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 (PfHRP-2)-based assay (ICT) and a Plasmodium-specific
lactate dehydrogenase test (OptiMAL) were evaluated for their
specificities in different groups of patients who tested negative for
malaria infection by microscopy. The patients were selected from
different disease groups: rheumatoid arthritis, hepatitis C,
toxoplasmosis, schistosomiasis, and hydatid disease. One hundred
thirty-three of the 225 patients were positive for rheumatoid factor.
Thirty-five of the 133 (26%) rheumatoid factor-positive patients gave
a false-positive reaction with the ICT assay, but only 4 of these gave
false-positive reactions with the OptiMAL test. Thirty-three of the 35 false-positive specimens became negative when repeat tested with the
ICT assay after absorbing out the rheumatoid factor activity. Our study
shows that the PfHRP-2-based ICT assay gave a false-positive reaction
in 26% of the patients who had rheumatoid factors, but were negative
for malaria by microscopy.
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Plasmodium falciparum Histidine-Rich
Protein 2-Based Immunocapture Diagnostic Assay for Malaria:
Cross-Reactivity with Rheumatoid Factors
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 24923, Safat 13110, Kuwait. Phone: 965-5312700. Fax: 965-5332719. E-mail: iqbal{at}hsc.kuniv.edu.kw.
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