Table 3.

Sensitivity and specificity regarding the external quality assessment on 200 µl of blood.

		Methods	Positive EQA	Negative EQA	Sensitivity (%)	Specificity (%)	PPV (%)	NPV (%)
P. falciparum	Real time PCR	Positive	22	0	100 ± 13.6	100 ± 15.8	100 ± 13.6	100 ± 15.8
		Negative	0	19
		Total	22	19
P. vivax		Positive	16	0	100 ± 18.8	100 ± 15.8	100 ± 18.8	100 ± 15.8
		Negative	0	19
		Total	16	19
P. malariae		Positive	10	0	100 ± 30.0	100 ± 15.8	100 ± 30.0	100 ± 15.8
		Negative	0	19
		Total	10	19
P. ovale		Positive	9	0	100 ± 33.3	100 ± 15.8	100 ± 33.3	100 ± 15.8
		Negative	0	19
		Total	9	19
P. knowlesi		Positive	9	0	100 ± 33.3	100 ± 15.8	100 ± 33.3	100 ± 15.8
		Negative	0	19
		Total	9	19

EQA External Quality Assessment, NPV negative predictive value, PPV positive predictive value. Parasitemia of the positive samples: P. falciparum from 0.1 to 1.10⁶ p/µl, P. vivax from 0.018 to 2.10⁵ p/µl, P. malariae from 1 to 125 p/µl, P. ovale from 1 to 200 p/µl and P. knowlesi from 1 to 1.10⁴ p/µl.