[Current situation of the malaria inspection in Jikei University Hospital]

The current situation of the malaria inspection in our laboratory was investigated. Malaria was detected by three different methods, May Giemsa staining(MG), acridine orange staining(AO), and antigen detecting method using NOW ICT Malaria P.f./P.v. kit(Ag). There were 207 requests a year(17.3 per month), and the holiday/night request occupied 12%. Fifteen patients were positive, 5 with plasmodium falciparum (p.f.) and 10 with plasmodium vivax(p.v.), including 3 relapsed cases. All the patients with p.f. were suffered in Africa, and 6 with p.v. were in Southeast Asia, and one with p.v. was in Central America. The rate of coincidence between MG/Ag and MG/AO were 94.4% and 96.9%, respectively. There were 7 samples that were MG negative and Ag positive, but all of these samples were obtained after the initiation of the treatment. There was no sample that showed MG positive and Ag negative. Our data suggested that no difference in detection sensitivity was found between microscopic observation and the antigen detection kit. Thus it would be a very useful and accurate strategy to use this antigen detection kit in a routine laboratory check up.