Performance of a rapid diagnostic test for the detection of Cryptosporidium spp. in African children admitted to hospital with diarrhea.

Background Cryptosporidiumis a protozoan parasite that causes mild to severe diarrhoeal disease in humans. To date, several commercial companies have developed rapid immunoassays for the detection ofCryptosporidiuminfection. However, the challenge is to identify an accurate, simple and rapid diagnostic tool for the estimation of cryptosporidiosis burden. This study aims at evaluating the accuracy of CerTest Crypto, a commercialized rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for the detection ofCryptosporidiumantigens in the stool of children presenting with diarrhoea. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in four study sites in Sub-Saharan Africa (Gabon, Ghana, Madagascar, and Tanzania), from May 2017 to April 2018. Stool samples were collected from children under 5 years with diarrhoea or a history of diarrhoea within the last 24 hours. All specimens were processed and analyzed using CerTest Crypto RDT against a composite diagnostic panel involving two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests (qPCR and RFLP-PCR,) as the gold standard. Results A total of 596 stool samples were collected. Evaluation of the RDT yielded a very low overall sensitivity of 49.6% (confidence interval (CI) 40.1-59.0), a specificity of 92.5% (CI 89.8-94.7), positive predictive value of 61.3% (CI 50.6-71.2), and negative predictive value of 88.5% (85.3-91.1) when compared to the composite reference standard of qPCR and RFLP-PCR for the detection ofCryptosporidiumspecies. Moreover, the performance of this test varied across different sites. Conclusion The weak performance of the studied RDT suggests the need to carefully evaluate available commercial RDTs before their use as standard tools in clinical trials and community survey ofCryptosporidiuminfections in pediatric cohorts. Author summary Diarrhoea is a common cause of death among children younger than 5 years. Treatment is based on oral rehydration and sometimes the administration of antibiotics. Several pathogens are responsible for diarrhoea in small children.Cryptosporidiumspecies are one of the common pathogens causing prolonged and persistent diarrhoea, malnutrition and growth deficits among immunocompetent children and of severe diarrhoea in immunocompromised persons. Laboratory diagnosis of cryptosporidiosis is usually achieved by microscopic detection ofCryptosporidiumoocysts in stool specimens; staining techniques include acid-fast stains and immunofluorescence. Given that appropriate treatment is impeded by the lack of timely and accurate standard diagnostics in middle and low-income countries, rapid diagnostic tests at the point of care potentially offer a shorter time to adequate care. We evaluated a new RDT targetingCryptosporidiumspecies. This new RDT showed variable and insufficient sensitivity among children admitted to a hospital with diarrhea at four different study sites in Gabon, Ghana, Madagascar, and Tanzania. However, this new RDT could not be used as an appropriate tool for a reliable diagnosis of Cryptosporidiosis to guide community-based screening programs.