TY - JOUR
T1 - False-positive rapid diagnostic test for malaria in new world cutaneous leishmaniasis
T2 - a tale of two travelers
AU - Unterborn, Rebecca
AU - Henao-Cordero, Jose
AU - Kousari, Arianna
AU - Ramanan, Poornima
AU - Franco-Paredes, Carlos
AU - Madinger, Nancy
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2022.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - We report two immigrants from Cuba seen in a US travel clinic with a confirmed diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis in whom we also suspected malaria co-infection. Both individuals likely acquired leishmaniasis in the Darien Gap region of Panama during their migratory path to the United States. As part of their clinical workup to rule out malaria, a rapid malaria antigen testing for P. falciparum was obtained and reported positive in both patients, However, both a qualitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for Plasmodium falciparum in blood and repeated thick-and-thin smear direct microscopy were negative in both, deeming the rapid malaria test as a false-positive. Thus, confirmation of malaria in travelers requires thick-and-thin film microscopy.
AB - We report two immigrants from Cuba seen in a US travel clinic with a confirmed diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis in whom we also suspected malaria co-infection. Both individuals likely acquired leishmaniasis in the Darien Gap region of Panama during their migratory path to the United States. As part of their clinical workup to rule out malaria, a rapid malaria antigen testing for P. falciparum was obtained and reported positive in both patients, However, both a qualitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for Plasmodium falciparum in blood and repeated thick-and-thin smear direct microscopy were negative in both, deeming the rapid malaria test as a false-positive. Thus, confirmation of malaria in travelers requires thick-and-thin film microscopy.
KW - Plasmodium falciparum
KW - cross-reactivity
KW - cutaneous leishmaniasis
KW - leishmaniasis
KW - malaria
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130170183&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85130170183&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/20499361221097791
DO - 10.1177/20499361221097791
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85130170183
SN - 2049-9361
VL - 9
JO - Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease
JF - Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease
ER -