Diagnosing malaria could soon be as simple as taking a breath test. Australian scientists have made the groundbreaking discovery that malaria-infected patients have higher levels of certain chemicals in their breath. … [Read more...]
Michigan State University to Develop Mobile App for Malaria Diagnosis
Researchers at the Michigan State University College of Engineering are getting closer to phoning home a rapid-response diagnostic test for malaria. Peter Lillehoj, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is heading a team of researchers that will use a $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop the technology to diagnose and monitor cerebral malaria using … [Read more...]
Improving Malaria Diagnosis Through Online Crowdsourcing: Not Just a (Bio)Game
A team of scientists from UCLA, led by Aydogan Ozcan, describe their new online tool, called BioGames, which they hope will improve malaria diagnosis worldwide: On April 25th, 2014, World Malaria Day, we released an online training game and educational module for malaria diagnosis, where we give each online user hundreds of images per game to assess their ability to identify malaria infected … [Read more...]
Malaria Game
Play now! Test your malaria diagnostic skills (no experience necessary) and help in creating a useful database for scientists and doctors at the same time. This game, designed by researchers at UCLA, was launched on April 25, 2014 (World Malaria Day) as a novel and highly innovative approach to address the challenges of diagnosing malaria. Your efforts will help to create a bank of gold-standard … [Read more...]
Should I Be Checked for Malaria After Returning from India?
Question: I just arrived home to Canada from India on Saturday evening . During my 3 week stay, I was in Delhi, Agra, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Solan and Shimla. While in Delhi my first week there I must have had about 500 or more mosquito bites on my arms, legs, face, even my back sides etc even though I was using mosquito cream (Odomos I think itw as called) and had a repellent plugged in all the … [Read more...]
Diagnosing Malaria
QUESTION My sister had fever before 2 weeks, she take tablets, and then she is fine. Then after three days she had a urine infection, take blood test and also urine test, the test result shows malaria is negative. Now she has fever. Take blood test, malaria is negative. Can she be affected by malaria or just urine infection? ANSWER Since your sister had two blood tests for malaria and … [Read more...]
What Cell count defines malaria?
QUESTION What Cell count defines malaria?? ANSWER If you are referring to the cell count for diagnosis, then really the answer is that if ANY malaria parasites are observed in a blood film, then the slide should be considered positive for malaria. Of course, some people can have low levels of parasite in their blood, which are not easily detected under a microscope, using a blood slide. … [Read more...]
Malaria Symptoms and Diagnosis
QUESTION My husband is currently working in Mozambique, and is sick with a fever, headache, and pain in his joints. Can this be malaria? ANSWER It could be. Your husband should go to the clinic and get tested. The standard diagnosis for malaria depends on the demonstration of parasites on a blood smear examined under a microscope. In some settings, where microscopic examination is … [Read more...]
Malaria: When is Lab Testing Not Recommended
QUESTION When is parasitological confirmation not recommended? ANSWER It is always best to get a laboratory or rapid diagnostic test for malaria (parasitological confirmation) to make sure the person actually has malaria before giving treatment, and to make sure the treatment is appropriate. There are four main types of malaria which infect humans: Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. … [Read more...]
URGENT HELP ON MALARIA
QUESTION I 25 yr old male from Lagos, Nigeria. I have been having frequent malaria since 2006 till present. My symptoms are always weakness of the body, feeling cold sometimes not always and also my mouth got better most cases. I have been to the hospital several times and the doctor told me my frequent malaria is because my blood genotype is AA and also am having a malaria parasites. I was … [Read more...]