Fluorescence spectral diagnosis of malaria: a preliminary study

Malaria is the most common disease transmitted by the bite by an infected female anopheles mosquito and caused by the plasmodium parasite. It is mostly prevalent in subtropical regions receiving abundant rain and supporting copious mosquito breeding. This disease is generally detected by the microscopic examination of blood films or antigen based rapid diagnostic test. Only occasionally the parasite DNA is detected using polymerase chain reaction in certain advanced, expensive laboratories.

An innovative spectral detection method based on the fluorescence spectra of a set of blood plasma biomolecules [tyrosine, tryptophan, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)] and red blood cell (RBC)-associated porphyrin is being evolved by our group.

The research so far has exhibited sensitivity and specificity values exceeding 90% based on the spectral features of blood components of 14 malaria patients and 20 numbers of age adjusted normal controls. The fluorescent biomolecules go out of proportion when the malarial parasite breaks down the hemoglobin of blood.

This technique has the potential to be used as an alternative diagnostic procedure for malaria since the instrumentation involved is portable and inexpensive.

The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/13000_2014_182.