The performance of rapid diagnostic kits in cholera diagnosis among patients presenting with diarrhoea symptoms attending the Nairobi Womens Hospital (Adams)

Abstract

Background: Cholera is an acute watery diarrhea disease caused mainly by Vibrio Cholera O1 and less commonly by Vibrio Cholera O139. It remains a global threat to public health thus importance to early detection. Stool is the ideal sample for the infection detection in both Rapid diagnostics and Stool culture.
Objective: To evaluate the performance of rapid diagnostic kits in cholera diagnosis among patients presenting with diarrhea symptoms attending Nairobi Women’s Hospital.
Material and Methods: This was across-sectional descriptive study. It involved participants who visited the Hospital during the study period with diarrhea symptom of clinical presentation. Data and study outcome were screened, pooled and entered in the SPSS for analysis.
Result: The sample size determination was calculated using Mittal formula (2015) formula with a confidence interval of 95% and a margin error of 5% which gave 293 participants. The findings in this study have shown that majority of the persons affected by cholera are aged between 31-40 years. Boson, Bioline and Star Diagnostics were the selected Rapid diagnostic kits for the study. Obtained sensitivity was 87.1%, 82.5% and 76.6% respectively with specificity of 96.6%, 95.5% and 93.8% respectively. All achieved substantial level of agreement on Kappa Test (> 0.60).
Conclusion: The Rapid Diagnostic kits in study are recommended for screening as well as diagnostic purposes.