Rapid diagnostic tests for non-malarial febrile illness in the tropics
Clinical Microbiology and Infection·
- DOI
- 10.1111/1469-0691.12154
- PMID
- 23413992
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- W1854616422
- Study type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The article is relevant to diagnostic planning for tropical fever management in settings with limited access to laboratory testing. It frames better rapid tests as important for improving evaluation of treatable severe infections after malaria is excluded.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The review asks what rapid diagnostic test options exist for non-malarial febrile illnesses in tropical, low-resource settings, and what gaps remain in their development and use.
Study design
This is a narrative review article summarizing the published state of rapid diagnostic test development across several tropical infections. It is not an original empirical study.
Population and setting
The discussion centers on severe febrile illness in tropical endemic areas, especially where malaria has been ruled out and diagnostic resources are limited. The infections named include dengue, enteric fever, leptospirosis, brucellosis, visceral leishmaniasis, and human African trypanosomiasis.
Main findings
The review reports that many rapid tests for these infections depend on detecting host antibodies to a single pathogen. It states that this approach has built-in sensitivity and specificity constraints, and that persistent antibody responses limit use for treatment monitoring or relapse assessment. The authors also describe a need for pathogen-detection tests and for combining tests within a validated syndromic framework.
Public-health relevance
The article is relevant to diagnostic planning for tropical fever management in settings with limited access to laboratory testing. It frames better rapid tests as important for improving evaluation of treatable severe infections after malaria is excluded.
Important limitations
No study limitations are stated in the supplied abstract. This summary is therefore limited to the single provided abstract and metadata, and the original paper would be needed for decision-grade interpretation.
GIDS interpretation
For discoverability context, this paper is indexed as a review on diagnostics for multiple tropical febrile infections and may be relevant to GIDS screening because of its focus on rapid testing and fever syndromes. This is bibliographic context only and does not indicate a live surveillance signal.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 12 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.