Malaria

Effective screening of at-risk donors eliminates the need for deferral.

 

One of the world’s most common diseases, malaria affects over 200 million people and causes up to three million deaths each year. Previously extremely widespread, the disease is now largely confined to Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Malaria is caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium. There are four species of Plasmodium causing human malaria: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae and P. ovale. These parasites, which share their life cycle with mosquitoes, are injected into the human bloodstream by the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes. Direct transmission from one human to another can also be caused via the transfusion of infected blood. Of the four species, P. falciparum is the most common and virulent strain, causing most malaria-related deaths worldwide. P. vivax is a particular problem in SE Asia and S America.

In nonendemic areas, however, it is one of the most important imported diseases with the result that most blood transfusion services have a policy of deferring ‘at-risk’ donors. However with the introduction of a suitable screening test Australia and the UK have retained >40 000 and >60 000 donations annually by early re-admittance of donors

The Lab21 Healthcare Malaria EIA is a two-step sandwich assay with high sensitivity and specificity for effective screening of malaria-risk blood donors. A total antibody assay (IgG, IgM, IgA) the test detects all 4 plasmodium species providing an effective screen, therefore eliminating the need to defer donors.

 

Ordering Information

Code	Product	NO of Tests
60089	Malaria EIA 96	96
60090	Malaria EIA 480	480