Last Updated: 30/06/2024
Would combined procalcitonin and malaria rapid tests optimize management of fever in the tropics?
Objectives
The aim of this project was to estimate the predictive value of procalcitonin (PCT) and C-Reactive Protein (CRP) levels in stored serum samples from patients with undifferentiated fever, to determine the need for antibiotic treatment
Every day, over 10,000 deaths occur in the tropics, due to bacterial, viral or malarial infection for which the commonest presentation is undifferentiated fever. Healthcare systems in developing countries lack the diagnostic capacity to differentiate causes of fever, leading to over-treatment with antimicrobials, a probable driver of drug resistance. While widespread deployment of rapid diagnostic tests for malaria in endemic areas has revolutionized the management of fever, it has also raised new challenges with the rising proportion of fevers with a negative malaria test result. In some instances, these patients require an antibiotic but they are not identified as such, while in many more cases antibiotics are given unnecessarily. One approach to improve the management of fevers would be to use biomarkers of bacterial infection to identify patients who should be treated with an antibiotic. A combined malaria rapid test with a test for a biomarker of bacterial infection might offer health workers in the rural tropics with a simple, affordable and practical approach to guide antimicrobial treatment.
Oct 2013 — Sep 2014
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