# Prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum histidine rich protein 2/3 gene deletions affecting rapid diagnostic test performance in travellers

## TL;DR

This study found that Plasmodium falciparum gene deletions affecting malaria rapid diagnostic tests are rare in travelers but still a concern for future testing strategies.

## Contribution

The study reports the prevalence of pfhrp2/3 gene deletions in a traveler cohort and highlights implications for diagnostic testing.

## Key findings

- Pfhrp2/3 deletions were found in 3.5% of patients in the study cohort.
- Over half of the patients had traveled to countries expected to exceed the WHO deletion threshold by 2028.
- No double deletions of pfhrp2/3 were observed in the sample.

## Abstract

In this traveller cohort, pfhrp2/3 deletions occurred in 4 of 115 (3.5%) patients, with no double deletions observed. Notably, 51.3% of patients had visited countries anticipated to surpass the WHO 5% pfhrp2/3 threshold by 2028. Continued monitoring of pfhrp2/3 deletions in non-endemic settings is needed to guide testing strategies.