Assay

Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT)

Key Words

Malaria, Plasmodium, Falciparum, Vivax, Ovale, Malariae, Rapid Diagnostic Test, RDT

Specimen Collection

3.4ml EDTA (Red lid). 1.3ml EDTA for paediatic (Red lid). Carried out on the Full Blood Count specimen. Malaria rapid diagnostic testing may be added on to samples that are up to 3 days old, as long as they were stored at 2-8°C.

Turnaround time

4 hours

Test indications

Suspected malarial infection based on travel history (must be included on the request form)

Interferences

This test can only detect live malarial parasites, and may not be able to detect certain subtypes of Plasmodium  ovale or Plasmodium knowlesi; therefore a negative result does not conclusively rule out malarial infection. It can differentiate between Plasmodium falciparum/mixed infections and non-falciparum infections, but cannot speciate further. Please refer to the full malaria screen for confirmation.

Reference Range

N/A

Minimum retesting interval

N/A