Evaluation of the Quantitative Buffy Coat (QBC) method to detect malaria-infected red blood cells

The conventional thin blood film method of detecting malaria is a long and tedious procedure, requiring significant technical expertise. In this study, we compared the Quantitative Buffy Coat (QBC) capillary tube method, which requires only minimal technical training, to the thin blood film method, and found it to be not only more rapid but also more sensitive than the thin blood film method in the detection of parasitized red blood cells. We do not suggest that the QBC capillary method can replace the conventional thin blood film method for the detection of malaria since it does not identify or quantitate the parasite species, only that it would serve as a valuable screening test.