title: Malaria in pregnancy: diagnosing infection and identifying fetal risk.
abstract: Despite increased malaria control efforts, recent reports indicate that over 1.2 million deaths due to malaria occurred in 2010. Pregnant women represent a particularly vulnerable risk group as malaria infection can lead to life-threatening disease for the mother and fetus. With 125 million women at risk of malaria in pregnancy every year, better diagnostic tools are needed for timely identification and treatment of malaria infection. Diagnostic surveillance tools are also needed to estimate disease burden and inform public health policies. In this review, the authors focus on malaria diagnostics in pregnancy and discuss considerations for different Plasmodium species and geographic regions. The authors also look at promising diagnostic modalities to monitor fetal and maternal health in pregnancy and discuss implementation barriers for low resource settings.
authors.affiliation: Sandra Rotman Laboratories, Sandra Rotman Centre, University Health Network - Toronto General Hospital, University of Toronto, M5G 1L7, Canada.
authors.forename: Andrea L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Conroy
authors.forename: Chloe R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.forename: Kevin C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Kain
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002846:Chromatography, Affinity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D008288:Malaria / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000635:transmission*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008853:Microscopy; D010920:Placenta / Q000469:parasitology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D015597:Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers