CDC/ Steven Glenn, Laboratory & Consultation Division
- Only truly STAT parasitology procedure--extremely important to diagnose rapidly
- Gold standard is a thick and thin blood smear stained with Giemsa
- 100 oil fields should be examined on thick smears and 300 oil fields on thin smears before reporting as negative
- Rapid diagnostic tests are antigen cassette or dipstick that can test for P. falciparum or P. falciparum and other malarial parasites
- Only one approved in the U.S. but many approved by WHO for endemic areas
- Can give a result in 10-15 minutes
- Only test performed in resource deprived areas
- Molecular tests (PCR) but not quick enough or widely available enough for rapid diagnosis
- 18s rRNA sequences are detected by real time polymerase chain reaction
- Useful for determining species, especially if not a human parasite (ie. simian)
- Can detect patients with multiple species
- Centers for Disease and Prevention(CDC) provides diagnostic services through its website
