EVALUATION OF THE KAT ™ -QUICK MALARIA RAPID TEST FOR RAPID DIAGNOSIS OF FALCIPARUM MALARIA

In recent years, several rapid diagnostic tests for falciparum malaria have been developed. KAT™ test results were compared with microscopy on 90 consecutive patients hospitalized at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Bangkok, Thailand. Fifty-one patients had P. falciparum infections while 49 had malaria due to other plasmodium species. For a geometric mean ±SD (Min;Max;range) parasitemia of 11,481 ± 5.0 (88;713,838;713,750), the sensitivity of the KAT test was 96% (95% CI=86-99.5), the specificity was 92% (95% CI=80-99), the accuracy was 94% and the reliability was 85%. These findings suggest that the KAT™ test is of potential interest in the diagnosis of falciparum malaria in Thailand.