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Guidelines for the treatment of malaria – 2 edition

a5.4 immunodiagnosis and pcr-based molecular detection methods
Detection of antibodies to parasites, which may be useful for epidemiological studies, is
neither sensitive nor specific enough to be of use in the management of patients suspected
of having malaria (21).
Techniques to detect parasite DNA, based on the polymerase chain reaction, are highly
sensitive and very useful for detecting mixed infections, in particular at low parasite
densities. They are also useful for studies on drug resistance and other specialized
epidemiological investigations (22), but they are not generally available for large-scale
field use in malaria endemic areas.

a5.5 references

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2. Redd SC et al. Clinical algorithm for treatment of Plasmodium falciparum in children.
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3. WHO Expert Committee on Malaria. Twentieth report. Geneva, World Health Organization,
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employees of a sugar estate in Malawi. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine
and Hygiene, 1997, 91:567–569.
5. Bojang KA, Obaro S, Morison LA. A prospective evaluation of a clinical algorithm for the
diagnosis of malaria in Gambian children. Tropical Medicine and International Health,
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6. Olaleye BO et al. Clinical predictors of malaria in Gambian children with fever or a
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92:300–304.
7. Chandramohan D, Jaffar S, Greenwood B. Use of clinical algorithms for diagnosing malaria.
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8. World Health Organization. Malaria diagnosis. Memorandum from a WHO meeting.
Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 1988, 66:575.
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Parasitology Today, 1992, 8:69–71.
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11. Malaria rapid diagnosis: making it work. Geneva, World Health Organization, 2003
(RS/2003/GE/05(PHL)).
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