The use of flow cytometry as a diagnostic test for malaria parasites.
A total of 453 clinical blood samples were determined for malaria parasites by flow cytometric assay (FCM) and reagents from Sysmex Corporation, Japan. In this study, the FCM greatly simplified and accelerated parasite detection, with sensitivity of 91.26%, specificity 86.28% and accuracy 87.42%. Overall, the parasite counts by flow cytometric measurement correlated well with the parasitemia measured by microscopic assay (regression coefficient = 0.9409). The detection limit was 0.05-0.1% parasitemia. No evidence of malaria parasites in either blood donor volunteers or other disease patients groups was determined by FCM. However, 48 samples who had been treated with antimalarial drugs and whose parasite microscopic counts were negative, showed false-positive results. When the data of these 48 samples were analyzed, they were found to have high levels of reticulocytes, ranging from 2.0-18.9%. This finding suggested that a high reticulocyte concentration in the blood may interfere with the performance of the FCM. Further improvement, by eliminating this interference, will make the FCM one of the most promising tests for malaria diagnosis.
Wongchotigul
Varee
V
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. tmvwc@mahidol.ac.th
Suwanna
Nirut
N
Krudsood
Srivicha
S
Chindanond
Duangrudee
D
Kano
Shigeyuki
S
Hanaoka
Nobuaki
N
Akai
Yasumasa
Y
Maekawa
Yasunori
Y
Nakayama
Satoshi
S
Kojima
Somei
S
Looareesuwan
Sornchai
S
D000818:Animals; D001399:Azure Stains; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D001782:Blood Donors; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013785:Thailand
D001399:Azure Stains