The development of commercially available malaria diagnostic tests and their extent of application in the Philippines: a systematic review
Year: 2023
Type: article
Study design: Systematic Review
Abstract: Background: Routine diagnostic tests for malaria infection rely primarily on microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). In the case of the Philippines, following progress in malaria control, the country may need a more sensitive diagnostic approach to identify residual malaria transmission and early detection of asymptomatic individuals. Therefore, there is a need to adopt diagnostic tests that are useful in a country gearing towards subnational malaria elimination. This review paper, therefore, attempts to summate published literature related to the development of commercially available malaria diagnostic tests that have undergone a clinical trial or randomized control trial, associate these developments with the malaria detection methods done in the Philippines, and relate their effects to the country’s malaria mortality and morbidity rates. Methods: The earliest published research that studies the detection of a malaria biomarker in clinical samples until December 2022 was systematically searched in MEDLINE through PubMed following the PRISMA 2020 guideline. The search term used to find potentially relevant studies was “Malaria diagnosis”. Using a data extraction form, the data was grouped into five categories according to malaria biomarkers or targets. Results: The search yielded a total of 41 eligible articles from the initial search of 1,799 articles via registers and citation searching. Among the studies, the detection of malaria-infected red blood cells (RBCs), P. falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 (PfHRP-2), parasite lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH), hemozoin, and DNA/ssRNA genes was reported. Among the 41 studies, only two related studies were conducted in the Philippines. Conclusions: Despite the technological advances in the commercially available malaria diagnostic tests, the diagnostic test applied in the Philippines seems to have not evolved much through the decades as it relies mostly on microscopy and RDTs. Yet the country has recorded a significant decrease in the number of confirmed cases and reported deaths from malaria since 2000, as observed by the National Malaria Control and Elimination Program (NMCEP). Nevertheless, the diagnostic practice using microscopy and RDTs that was used to confirm cases may not provide an accurate picture of malaria incidence in a country gearing towards malaria elimination, as this might neglect residual malaria transmission.
DOI: 10.21037/jphe-23-46
Authors: Aaron Jan Palmares, Gregorio Martin I
Institutions: Far Eastern University, University of Santo Tomas
Language: English
Topic: Malaria Research and Control
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4389050640