New methods for diagnosis of in malaria-prone areas

Malaria is still considered a problem in many parts of Africa and the Middle East. A feature of the disease that has made it a health problem is its diagnostic problems. Achieving an accurate and efficient, yet affordable and cheap, method will reduce malaria risks. Taking a Blood Smear from the person suspected of having the disease and its microscopic examination after staining it with Wright-Giemsa stain, is the simplest and most accurate laboratory test for diagnosing the disease and determining the Plasmodium type. This is thus the most widely used test. In cases where the number of parasites in the blood is low or the patient is receiving a drug therapy, blood smear method is not effective. In addition, in evaluation of methods for controlling and eradicating Malaria where carriers of Plasmodium are followed up, blood smear method will not be accurate and serological methods should be used. In particular, indirect haemagglutination and fluorescent antibody methods are mostly used in malaria epidemiology and control studies. For diagnosis of Malaria in early stages in people who have recently been infected and have clinical signs of the disease, serological methods are not needed because the parasite is found in blood samples. In addition, in people who have repeated malaria infections or live in malaria-endemic areas, positive serology test does not indicate the infection. In malaria-prone areas, presence of some parasites like Babesia in peripheral blood smears may be diagnosed incorrectly as Plasmodium falciparum.Today, scientists use light magnet technology (MOT) where magnetic properties are used for detection of Haemozoin, a residue of the malaria parasite in the blood. This new method is preferred to previous methods for malaria testing because of more accurate identification of samples containing little parasite. Using the method, practitioners can diagnose malaria in less than a minute.

Keywords:

methods , malaria , diagnosis