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This can lead to unrecognized infections in individuals and to setbacks in malaria control in endemic countries where RDTs are the backbone of malaria diagnostics and control.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Case description<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Here the detection of a\n                      <jats:italic>pfhrp2\/3<\/jats:italic>\n                      -negative\n                      <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic>\n                      infection acquired in Ethiopia by a 63-year old female traveller is presented. After onset of symptoms during travel, she was first tested negative for malaria, most probably by RDT, at a local hospital in Harar, Ethiopia\n                      <jats:italic>.<\/jats:italic>\n                      Falciparum malaria was finally diagnosed microscopically upon her return to Germany, over 4\u00a0weeks after infection. At a parasite density of approximately 5387 parasites\/\u00b5l, two different high-quality RDTs: Palutop\u2009+\u20094 OPTIMA, NADAL\n                      <jats:sup>R<\/jats:sup>\n                      Malaria PF\/pan Ag 4 Species, did not respond at their respective\n                      <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic>\n                      test lines.\n                      <jats:italic>pfhrp2\/3<\/jats:italic>\n                      deletion was confirmed by multiplex-PCR. The patient recovered after a complete course of atovaquone and proguanil. According to the travel route, malaria was acquired most likely in the Awash region, Central Ethiopia. This is the first case of imported\n                      <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic>\n                      with confirmed\n                      <jats:italic>pfhrp2\/3<\/jats:italic>\n                      deletion from Ethiopia.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      HRP2-negative\n                      <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic>\n                      strains may not be recognized by the presently available HRP2-based RDTs. When malaria is suspected, confirmation by microscopy and\/or qPCR is necessary in order to detect falciparum malaria, which requires immediate treatment. This case of imported\n                      <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic>\n                      , non-reactive to HRP2-based RDT, possibly underlines the necessity for standardized, nationwide investigations in Ethiopia and should alert clinicians from non-endemic countries to the possibility of false-negative RDT results which may increase in returning travellers with potentially life-threatening infections.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12936-021-03678-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,12]],"date-time":"2021-03-12T02:02:44Z","timestamp":1615514564000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Rapid diagnostic test negative Plasmodium falciparum malaria in a traveller returning from Ethiopia"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7797-3674","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefan","family":"Schlabe","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ingrid","family":"Reiter-Owona","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tamara","family":"Nordmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ramona","family":"Dolscheid-Pommerich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Egbert","family":"Tannich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Achim","family":"Hoerauf","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"J\u00fcrgen","family":"Rockstroh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"3678_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1186\/1475-2875-13-283","volume":"13","author":"Q Cheng","year":"2014","unstructured":"Cheng Q, Gatton M, Barnwell J, Chiodini P, McCarthy J, Bell D, et al. 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The identifiable personal details were omitted.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"SS received travel expenses for educational events not related to the topic from Gilead, ViiV and Abbvie; JR received honoraria for consulting or speaking at educational events. Gilead, Janssen, Merck, Theratechnologies and ViiV outside the submitted work. All other authors declare that they have no competing interests.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"145"}}