New research has shown you don’t have to go through the pain of a needle prick to test if you have malaria—you can just pee on a stick.

In a clinical trial, published in the journal of Clinical Microbiology this November, researchers set up the newly-introduced urine malaria test (UMT) against standard tests for malaria across six Lagos hospitals.

Their aim was to compare how sensitive UMT was to the malaria parasite, and whether it could specifically a case of fever as being linked to the presence of the malaria.

They enrolled 1,691 people over age two for the study. Some 566 of them already had higher than 37.5-degree-centigrade fevers and 1,125 did  not have a fever but reported a history of fever in the previous 48 hours.

Among all participants combined, UMT detected malaria in 419 people, compared with 341 who tested positive in microscopy tests or other standard tests.

Among patients who actually had a fever, UMT detected malaria in 231 people, compared by 204 cases detected by microscopy.

Among 566 patients who had fever, UMT was sensitive in 85 out of every 100 cases and specific in 84% of them.

It was even more sensitive and specific among children under age five, comparable to figures obtained for standard existing tests, the researchers found.

They said testing for malaria using urine performed better among patients with a fever, who are its intended targets—and is so specific, chances of it not catching a malaria parasite is about four in 100.

“The UMT is the first non-invasive malaria test clinically evaluated on a large scale at the population and community levels,” the researchers reported.

“This indicates that the UMT could aid in the clinical management of suspected malaria cases. For example, upon receiving a negative UMT result for a suspected malaria case, the clinician now knows this patient’s probability of having malaria parasites detectable by microscopy is unlikely – only 4%. In contrast, a positive UMT result would indicate the probability of detecting malaria parasites in this patient by microscopy is 59%.”

Credit: dailytrust