Evaluation of a malaria antibody enzyme immunoassay for use in blood screening.
Transfusion-transmitted malaria is rare, but it may produce severe problem in the safety of blood transfusion due to the lack of reliable procedure to evaluate donors potentially exposed to malaria. Here, we evaluated a new enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay malaria antibody test (ELISA malaria antibody test, DiaMed, Switzerland) to detect antibodies to Plasmodium vivax (the indigenous malaria) in the blood samples in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Blood samples of four groups were obtained and analyzed; 100 samples from P.vivax infected patients, 35 from recovery patients, 366 from normal healthy individuals, and 325 from domestic travelers of non-endemic areas residents to risky areas of ROK. P.vivax antibody levels by ELISA were then compared to the results from microscopic examination and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. As a result, the ELISA malaria antibody test had a clinical sensitivity of 53.0% and a clinical specificity of 94.0% for P.vivax. Twenty out of 325 domestic travelers (6.2%) were reactive and 28 cases (8.6%) were doubtful. Of the reactive and doubtful cases, only two were confirmed as acute malaria by both microscopy and PCR test. Thus we found that the ELISA malaria antibody test was insufficiently sensitive for blood screening of P.vivax in ROK.
Oh
Jun Seo
JS
Laboratory of Cellular Oncology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Gojan 1-dong, Danwon gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi do 425-707, Republic of Korea .
Kim
Jang Su
JS
Lee
Chang Hwan
CH
Nam
Deok Hwa
DH
Kim
Sun Hyung
SH
Park
Dae Won
DW
Lee
Chang Kyu
CK
Lim
Chae Seung
CS
Park
Gil Hong
GH
D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood*; D001782:Blood Donors; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D016780:Malaria, Vivax / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008403:Mass Screening; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000276:immunology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan