One survey, three pathogens, one heat-stressed kit. We assemble the multi-disease RDT loadout an outbreak survey actually carries.
An outbreak survey rarely asks about a single pathogen. A field team in the middle of a complex emergency needs to screen for malaria, HIV, and dengue in one pass, with one workflow, out of one heat-stressed case. Building that kit is an exercise in compromise managed deliberately.
The kit shares what it can — a common reading discipline, a single QA log, cold-chain-free storage — but each test carries its own shelf life and heat tolerance, so the loadout is built around its most fragile component. Dengue’s NS1-plus-serology split and malaria’s HRP2-deletion consideration each add lines the survey planner has to anticipate. For the full specification, see our guide to rapid diagnostic tests.
Consumables and contingency are sized to expected throughput plus a margin for the surge and the inevitable spoilage. A survey that runs out of one pathogen’s tests halfway through produces a dataset with a hole in it.
International Health Journal assembles the multi-disease kit around worst-case storage and real throughput, so the survey carries what it needs and nothing it cannot keep viable.