[Diagnosis of falciparum malaria by polymerase chain reaction]

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method using a pair of Plasmodium falciparum-specific oligonucleotides as primers was used to detect malaria patient blood samples collected from Yunnan endemic malarious area. The results showed that a DNA fragment of 492 bp was amplified in all 53 microscopically diagnosed P. falciparum samples, but negative in 8 P. vivax samples and 12 normal blood samples. This method seems to have high sensitivity and high specificity.