Comparison of blood smear and PCR to detect malaria infections in Honduras

Abstract

An early and effective malaria diagnosis is determinant for the treatment and control of the disease, however, the traditional diagnosis based on microscopy has limitations in sensitivity and power to detect mixed infections which make difficult the control of malaria, especially in regions of low and moderate endemicity. Parasite detection methods based on DNA amplification are an alternative to this problem. In this study we compared the microscopic diagnosis by thick drop with a technique of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). 129 samples from 24 Counties in 5 endemic Honduran Provinces resulted positive by microscopy. According to molecular diagnosis, 10% of them were positive for Plasmodium falciparum, 86% for Plasmodium vivax, and 2.3% showed mixed infections. The correlation between microscopic and PCR diagnosis was 91.4%.

According to the PCR results some mistakes in the microscopic diagnosis were detected in relation to correct identification of Plasmodium species and undetected mixed infections. Therefore, PCR method was shown to be a useful tool for epidemiological investigations of malaria and as quality control of traditional diagnosis.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/rct.v0i9.708

Revista Ciencia y Tecnología, No. 9, Diciembre 2011 pp.68-81