Skip to main content
. 2019 Jun 19;13(6):e0007509. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007509

Table 1. Costs and technical features of the tests used (RBT, LFA and ELISA).

Features RBT LFA ELISA More advantageous tests according to this feature
Cost ($) of reagents or commercial kits per sample 1 0.20–0.50 4–6 2 3–8 2 RBT
    Need for specific equipment 3 NO NO YES 4 RBT & LFA
    Technical difficulty Low Low Medium-High RBT & LFA
    Time required to process 100 to 1000 samples (h) 0.3 to 3 0.3 to 3 3 to 4 RBT & LFA
    Automated reading of results NO NO YES ELISA
    Need for serum pre-dilution NO NO YES RBT & LFA
    Suitable for highly haemolyzed serum NO YES YES LFA & ELISA
    Immunoglobulin detected IgM and IgG IgG IgG 5 RBT
    Useful for human diagnosis YES NO NO RBT

1 Calculated as the division of the cost (approx.) of the material, reagents or commercial kits required by the number of samples tested.

2 Based on commercial kits prices found for different providers and countries.

3 Small common equipment like pipettes or washing devices not considered.

4 Absorbance microplate reader (cost from 5.000 to 10.000 $).

5 It depends on the conjugate used: the “in house” ELISA used in this work and most commercial ELISA kits detect IgG exclusively but ELISA tests detecting both IgM and IgG are also available