Accuracy of malaria diagnosis by clinical laboratories in Belgium.

Background: The Belgian Reference Laboratory for Plasmodium offers a free-of-charge reference testing of malaria-positive or doubtful samples to clinical laboratories.

Methods: The final malaria diagnosis from the Reference Laboratory (microscopy, rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) and Plasmodium species-specific PCR) were compared with the final diagnosis from peripheral Belgian laboratories. The Reference Laboratory reports were analysed for all samples submitted between 2013 and 2017.