A Systematic Literature Review of Microscopy Methods Reported in Malaria Clinical Trials

Microscopy of stained blood films is essential for the diagnosis of malaria, differentiation of parasite species, and estimation of parasite density performed for assessments of antimalarial drug efficacy. The accuracy and comparability of these measures over time and space are vital to discern the...

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Published inThe American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene Vol. 104; no. 3; pp. 836 - 841
Main Authors Das, Debashish, Dahal, Prabin, Dhorda, Mehul, Citarella, Barbara Wanjiru, Kennon, Kalynn, Stepniewska, Kasia, Felger, Ingrid, Chappuis, François, Guerin, Philippe J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Institute of Tropical Medicine 01.03.2021
The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Subjects
Clinical trials
Clinical Trials as Topic
Drug efficacy
Humans
Malaria
Malaria - diagnosis
Medical diagnosis
Methods
Microscopy
Microscopy - methods
Parasites
Review
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Summary:Microscopy of stained blood films is essential for the diagnosis of malaria, differentiation of parasite species, and estimation of parasite density performed for assessments of antimalarial drug efficacy. The accuracy and comparability of these measures over time and space are vital to discern the emergence or spread of antimalarial drug resistance. Although evidence-based guidelines for malaria microscopy methods exist, the age-old microscopy techniques for parasitological assessments are subject to considerable methodological variations. The purpose of this review was to explore critically how microscopy methods were reported in published malarial studies between 2013 and 2017 with the focus on outlining the methodological differences and improving reporting standards in practice.
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Authors’ addresses: Debashish Das, Prabin Dahal, Barbara Wanjiru Citarella, Kalynn Kennon, Kasia Stepniewska, and Philippe J. Guerin, Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO), Centre for Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and Nuffield Department of Medicine, Global Health, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, E-mails: debashish.das@wwarn.org, prabin.dahal@wwarn.org, barbara.citarella@wwarn.org, kalynn.kennon@wwarn.org, kasia.stepniewska@wwarn.org, and philippe.guerin@wwarn.org. Mehul Dhorda, Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO), Asia-Pacific Regional Centre, Bangkok, Thailand, Nuffield Department of Medicine, Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand, E-mail: mehul.dhorda@wwarn.org. Ingrid Felger, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland, E-mail: ingrid.felger@swisstph.ch. François Chappuis, Division of Tropical and Humanitarian Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, E-mail: francois.chappuis@hcuge.ch.
Disclosure: All the data used in this review are presented in the main text, either as tables/figures or as Supplemental Files. Raw data used for analysis are presented as Supplemental File 3. The R script used for processing the raw data and generating tables and figures presented in the main text is presented as Supplemental File 4.
Financial support: The WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN) is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the ExxonMobil Foundation.
ISSN:0002-9637
1476-1645
1476-1645
DOI:10.4269/ajtmh.20-1219