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Malaria is a serious, sometimes fatal disease resulting from infection with Plasmodium spp. transmitted by the bite of Anopheline mosquitoes.. The clinical diagnosis, where malaria is suspected based on the history, symptoms and clinical findings must always be confirmed by a laboratory diagnosis. Laboratory diagnosis of malaria involves identification of malaria parasite or its antigens/products in the blood of the patient.
Microscopy
Microscopy is gold standard for laboratory confirmation of malaria. A drop of the patients blood is collected by fingerprick, or from a larger venous blood specimen. It is then spread on a glass slide (blood smear), dipped in a reagent that stains the malaria parasites (Giemsa stain), and examined under a microscope at a 1000-fold magnification. Malaria parasites are recognizable by their physical features and by the appearance of the red blood cells that they have infected..
Advantages
Microscopy is an established, relatively simple technique that is familiar to most laboratorians.
Disadvantages
In many developing countries, microscopy is not reliable because the microscopists are insufficiently trained and supervised and are overworked, the microscopes and reagents are of poor quality, and often the supply of electricity is unreliable. Conversely in non-endemic countries, laboratory technicians are often unfamiliar with malaria and may miss the parasites.
Table 1. Morphological features of the different stages of Plasmodia by species in stained thin blood films P. falciparum Trophozoites Always present in peripheral blood. Ring-shaped, small to medium size in dimension ( = 2-4 mm) depending on maturation. Young form may lay in marginal position. Polyparasitism and double chromatin dots possible. Solely present in more severe infections. Small and compact, containing 15 to 30 merozoites and a dense dark brown pigmented residual body. P. vivax Polymorphous in shape from large ring forms younger forms) to ameboid mass occupying the entire red blood cell (mature forms). P. ovale Polymorphous in shape from ring forms often showing a central clear vacuole surrounded by regular cytoplasm (younger forms) to large ameboid masses (mature forms). Their dimensions are slightly inferior to P. vivax. Normally present in peripheral blood. Large ( = 10-12 mm), round bodies containing 4 to 12 merozoites and dark pigmentation P. malariae Ring form,small and regular in shape, with no pseudopodes. Older forms may be large, with vacuole Occasionally, equatorial band form present
Schizonts
Normally present in peripheral blood. Large ( = 12-16 mm), round bodies containing 12 to 24 merozoites and loose golden brown
Compact, rosetta-like forms with 8-10 merozoites surrounding a central pigmented area
Gametocytes
residual pigmentation Present in the second phase of Round regular bodies the erythrocytic cycle. with a Crescent-shaped with coarse single voluminous rice-like granules and pigment. nucleus (dense and The female is blue in red purple in colour and granules are in female gametocytes, central position, while the loose male form is violet and and pink in male granules are scattered over forms). the parasite may be very high (average 20- intermediate level 500.000, max 2.000.000) (average 20.0000, max 50.000)
Parasitic density
Round regular bodies with a single voluminous nucleus (dense and red purple in female gametocytes, loose and pink in male forms). Their dimensions are usually inferior than in P. vivax usually moderate (average 9.000, max 30.000)
Compact large single dense purple nucleus (female form) or loose violet nucleus (male form). Scattered coarse pigment granules are present
Table 2. Morphological features of the host red blood cell by species of Plasmodia in stained thin blood films
red blood cell count (RBC) value is also needed. If the haemogram is not available, the value of 5.000.000 RBC/ul (males) and 4.500.000 RBC/ul (female) is generally assumed even though the frequent occurrence of anaemia consequent to malaria infection may render these estimations grossly inaccurate. The number of asexual parasites is then counted in at least 25 microscopic fields and the total parasite count//ul of blood is calculated as follows: number of observed asexual parasites x total RBC count/ul ----------------------------------------------------------------------- = parasites/ul of blood total n. of RBC scanned in 25 microscopic fields 3) Proportion of parasitized erythrocytes/total RBC count (thin film): This method requires the preliminary determination of the number of erythrocytes present in the average microscopic field. This value is usually around two hundred, but it may vary considerably depending upon the quality of the smear and the magnification used. The number of parasitized erythrocytes (asexual forms) present in 25 microscopic fields is counted divided by the total number of erythrocytes present in these fields, and multiplied by one hundred. The result will indicate the percentage of erythrocytes that are infected by malaria parasites. 4) Semi quantitative count (thick film): This method is fairly inaccurate and should be used only when it is not possible to perform one of the more accurate methods described above. It uses the following semiquantitative scale: + 1-10 asexual parasites per 100 thick film fields ++ 11-100 asexual parasites per 100 thick film fields +++ 1-10 asexual parasites per single thick film field ++++ more than 10 asexual parasites per single thick film field
Antigen Detection
Various test kits are available to detect antigens derived from malaria parasites. Such immunologic ("immunochromatographic") tests most often use a dipstick or cassette format, and provide results in 2-15 minutes. These "Rapid Diagnostic Tests" (RDTs) offer a useful alternative to microscopy in situations where reliable microscopic diagnosis is not available. Malaria RDTs are currently used in some clinical settings and programs. However, before malaria RDTs can be widely adopted, several issues remain to be addressed, including improving their accuracy; lowering their cost; and ensuring their adequate performance under adverse field conditions. Currently RDTs are only approved for use by hospital and commercial laboratories, not by individual clinicians or by patients themselves. It is recommended that all RDTs are followed-up with microscopy to confirm the results and if positive, to quantify the proportion of red blood cells that are infected. The use of this RDT may decrease the amount of time that it takes to determine that a patient is infected with malaria.
Advantages
High quality malaria microscopy is not always immediately available in every clinical setting where patients might seek medical attention. Although this practice is discouraged, many healthcare settings either save blood samples for malaria microscopy until a qualified person is available to perform the test, or send the blood samples to commercial or reference laboratories. These practices have resulted in long delays in diagnosis. The laboratories associated with these healthcare settings may now use an RDT to more rapidly determine if their patients are infected with malaria.
Disadvantages
The use of the RDT does not eliminate the need for malaria microscopy. The RDT may not be able to detect some infections with lower numbers of malaria parasites circulating in the patients bloodstream. Also, there is insufficient data available to determine the ability of this test to detect the 2 less common species of malaria, P. ovale and P. malariae. Therefore all negative RDTs must be followed by microscopy to confirm the result. In addition, all positive RDTs should also be followed by microscopy. The currently approved RDT detects 2 different malaria antigens; one is specific for P. falciparum and the other is found in all 4 human species of malaria. Thus, microscopy is needed to determine the species of malaria that was detected by the RDT. In addition, microscopy is needed to quantify the proportion of red blood cells that are infected, which is an important prognostic indicator.
Molecular Diagnosis
Parasite nucleic acids are detected using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This technique is more accurate than microscopy. However, it is expensive, and requires a specialized laboratory (even though technical advances will likely result in field-operated PCR machines).
Serology
Serology detects antibodies against malaria parasites, using either indirect immunofluorescence (IFA) or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serology does not detect current infection but rather measures past experience.
Malaria antibody detection is performed using the indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test. The IFA procedure can be used to determine if a patient has been infected with Plasmodium spp. Because of the time required for development of antibody and also the persistence of antibodies, serologic testing is not practical for routine diagnosis of acute malaria. However, antibody detection may be useful for: Screening blood donors involved in cases of transfusion-induced malaria when the donor's parasitemia may be below the detectable level of blood film examination Testing a patient with a febrile illness who is suspected of having malaria and from whom repeated blood smears are negative Testing a patient who has been recently treated for malaria but in whom the diagnosis is questioned.
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Species-specific testing is available for the four human species: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, and P. ovale. Cross reactions often occur between Plasmodium species and Babesiaspecies. Blood stage Plasmodium species schizonts (meronts) are used as antigen. The patient's serum is exposed to the organisms; homologous antibody, if present, attaches to the antigen, forming an antigen-antibody (Ag-Ab) complex. Fluorescein-labeled anti-human antibody is then added, which attaches to the patient's malariaspecific antibodies. When examined with a fluorescence microscope, a positive reaction is when the parasites fluoresce an apple green color. Enzyme immunoassays have also been employed as a tool to screen blood donors, but have limited sensitivity due to use of only Plasmodium falciparum antigen instead of antigens of all four human species.
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