Rapid, sensitive diagnosis of malaria based on ribosomal RNA

A system for the sensitive and accurate diagnosis of all four species of malaria parasite that are pathogenic in man has been developed. It involves hybridisation of oligonucleotides complementary to species-specific regions of the RNA of the parasite small ribosomal subunit followed by autoradiography. The method retains its specificity even under conditions of very low stringency similar to those that will occur in field diagnosis. Direct application of treated blood to nylon is possible and consistently results in the detection of fewer than 10 parasites by autoradiography in an overnight exposure. The target rRNA is stable even in dehydrated cells.