Journal article
Comparison of diagnostic methods for the detection and quantification of the four sympatric Plasmodium species in field samples from Papua New Guinea
A Rosanas-Urgell, D Mueller, I Betuela, C Barnadas, J Iga, PA Zimmerman, HA Del Portillo, P Siba, I Mueller, I Felger
Malaria Journal | Published : 2010
Abstract
Background. Accurate diagnosis of Plasmodium infections is essential for malaria morbidity and mortality reduction in tropical areas. Despite great advantages of light microscopy (LM) for malaria diagnosis, its limited sensitivity is a critical shortfall for epidemiological studies. Robust molecular diagnostics tools are thus needed. Methods. The present study describes the development of a duplex quantitative real time PCR (qPCR) assay, which specifically detects and quantifies the four human Plasmodium species. Performance of this method was compared to PCR-ligase detection reaction-fluorescent microsphere assay (PCR-LDR-FMA), nested PCR (nPCR) and LM, using field samples collected from 45..
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Funding Acknowledgements
We are particularly thankful to all the children of Ilahita area, their parents and/or guardians who participated in the study. We thank the staff from the Institute of Medical Research in Maprik for their assistance in collecting and processing blood samples, to the staff from the Institute of Medical Research in Madang for malaria microscopy readings and to Nomin-Dora Tenakanai for her help with the Bioplex analysis. This investigation received financial support from the Fundacion Privada CELLEX (Catalonia, Spain).