Table 1.
Rates of false-positive malaria antigen assays in travelers suffering from schistosomiasis (n = 23)
| Clinical syndrome | Specimen (no. of samples) | Malaria assaya | No. of positive samples/total no. of samples tested |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S. mekongi | S. mansoni | S. haematobium | |||
| Acute schistosomiasis | Whole blood (14) | PfHRP2 assay (Binax) | 5/5 | 0/6 | 0/3 |
| PfLDH assay (OptiMAL) | 0/5 | 0/6 | 0/3 | ||
| Sera (16) | PfHRP2 assay (Binax) | 7/7 | 0/6 | 0/3 | |
| PfLDH assay (OptiMAL) | 0/7 | 0/6 | 0/3 | ||
| Past infectionb | Sera (7) | PfHRP2 assay (Binax) | 0/3 | 0/3 | 0/1 |
a
PfHRP2, Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2-based assay (Now Malaria; Binax Inc. ME); PfLDH, Plasmodium falciparum lactic dehydrogenase (PfLDH) and panmalarial LDH-based assay (OptiMAL; Flow Inc., Portland, OR).
b
Samples were drawn 1 to 3 years following exposure to S. mekongi and 1 to 7 years postexposure to S. mansoni or S. haematobium.