Malaria: A Comprehensive Review of Laboratory Diagnosis

Malaria represents a worldwide health concern, contributing significantly to morbidity and mortality rates in both developing and developed countries, as well as underdeveloped ones. Insufficient resources in certain countries result in subpar diagnostic procedures. Therefore, advancements in malaria diagnostics should make it easier to identify people who have malarial parasite infections and to treat such patients with the appropriate medications. This review focuses on malaria diagnosis techniques, both conventional and modern. Due to a scarce of qualified technologists to read and interpret the slides, traditional diagnosis, which is based on the inspection of Leishman-Giemsa stained thick and thin blood smears under a microscope, is inappropriate in many areas. There are currently more sophisticated and reasonably effective diagnostic methods for malaria that are based on fluorescence microscopy or nucleic acid detection, such as PCR. In addition, many malaria-endemic nations lack the necessary equipment and skills for both fluorescent microscopy and nucleic acid detection procedures. This issue is resolved by recently developed technique and approach based on immuno-assays, which are simple to conduct and interpret and don’t require complicated equipment or expert assistance. In addition, they are affordable, rapid (10 min/test), and just as sensitive as conventional microscopy.