Prozone-like phenomenon in travellers with fatal malaria: Report of two cases

Abstract

Malaria diagnosis remains a concern in non-endemic countries, with rapid diagnosis being crucial to improve patients’ outcome. Rapid diagnostic tests have high sensitivity but they also have flaws and false-negative results that might jeopardize malaria diagnosis. Some falsenegative results might relate to a prozone-like effect. The authors describe two patients with false-negative rapid diagnostic tests in which a prozone-like effect might have been involved. The authors highlight that these tests should not be used without accompanying light microscopy observation of blood films and discuss potential benefits of using rapid diagnostic tests with more than one specific antigen for Plasmodium falciparum.