Staining v/s Immunological Techniques for Diagnosis of Malaria

Prevalence of malaria is around 300 million people worldwide with a global death rate over 1.5 million/year. Once prevalent over much of the world, it is now confined to the tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Africa, South and Central America. Cases of malaria from tropical Africa is around 90% and the rest is 10 %. The logistic, economic and technical factors limit rapid access to microscopic confirmation of malaria in many tropical countries including India. So taking into account of all the factors from our study, we recommend Falcivax HRP2 antigen detection as a tool for diagnosis of malaria in future. Although no test can completely replace the conventional method of peripheral blood smear examination, these newer diagnostic tests can be used as supplement to microscopic examination of peripheral blood smear where the diagnosis cannot be made on microscopy alone. Also, rapid immunochromatography tests can be used in times of urgency and in areas where facilities of microscopy are not available especially during night times when services of laboratory and experienced Microscopists are not available.