Comparison of diagnostics: RDT and microscopy
infection
INFECTION, CNS INFECTIONS
The majority of participants in the endline survey also had a blood smear taken for microscopy (Overall, 57.3% (707/1233) of positive RDT results were also positive by microscopy. Whilst age patterns of infection prevalence appeared similar for the two diagnostics, the agreement between the two was lowest in older participants (only 36.5% and 31.1% of positive RDT results were positive by microscopy in 25–50 year olds and 50–100 year olds respectively). Mean parasite density was also lower in infections in those age groups (< 2000 trophozoites per ml) compared to younger age groups (mean 36,384, 12,300, 3789, 6437 trophozoites per ml in 0–5, 5–10, 10–15, and 15–25 year olds, respectively).