O-5S quantitative real-time PCR: a new diagnostic tool for laboratory confirmation of human onchocerciasis

Parasites & Vectors

Table 2 Comparison of microscopy, O-150 qPCR assay and O-5S qPCR assay for the diagnosis of onchocerciasis

Variable		Study population n (%)	O-5S qPCR		P-value^a
			Positive casesn (%)	Negative controlsn (%)
Sample size	Patients	200 (100)	133 (100)	67 (100)	na
Microscopy	Positive	74 (37.00)	74 (55.64)	0 (0)	< 0.01^a*
Microscopy	Negative	126 (63.00)	59 (44.36)	67 (100)	< 0.01^a*
O-150 qPCR	Positive	79 (39.50)	79 (59.40)	0 (0)	< 0.01^a*
O-150 qPCR	Negative	121 (60.50)	54 (40.60)	67 (100)	< 0.01^a*
Microscopy + O-150 qPCR	Negative + negative	109 (54.50)	42 (31.58)	67 (100)	na
	Negative + positive	17 (8.50)	17 (12.78)	0 (0)	na
	Positive + negative	12 (6.00)	12 (9.02)	0 (0)	na
	Positive + positive	62 (31.00)	62 (46.62)	0 (0)	na

^aMcNemar’s chi-square test for matched pairs: χ ² = 59.00 (microscopy and O-5S qPCR); χ ² = 54.00 (O-150 qPCR and O-5S qPCR)
*Significant differences were defined as P-values < 0.05
Abbreviation: na not applicable

ISSN: 1756-3305