1. Malaria Slide Bank to Strengthen and Improve the Quality of Malaria Diagnosis: A National Slide Repository in India.
- Author
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Nema S, Srivastava B, Ahmad N, Sharma S, Anvikar AR, Rahi M, Sharma A, Bharti PK, and Nitika N
- Subjects
- India epidemiology, Humans, Malaria, Vivax diagnosis, Malaria, Vivax epidemiology, Malaria, Falciparum diagnosis, Malaria, Falciparum epidemiology, Malaria diagnosis, Malaria epidemiology, Plasmodium falciparum isolation & purification, Plasmodium falciparum genetics, Biological Specimen Banks, Microscopy methods, Microscopy standards, Quality Control, Plasmodium vivax isolation & purification
- Abstract
Malaria elimination is one of the top health care priorities in India, necessitating accessible and accurate diagnosis for effective treatment. A malaria slide bank in India is a collection of quality-controlled malaria-positive and -negative slides and is considered a vital asset for quality diagnosis. The collection of blood samples, preparation of blood smears, staining, quality control, molecular characterizations, and slide validation were carried out according to standard operating procedures in accordance with the WHO reference laboratory. The true count and parasite density per microliter were computed in accordance with WHO guidelines. Over 27 months, 48 batches (8,196 slides) were prepared. Overall, the majority of slide batches were Plasmodium vivax (45.9%; 22/48), followed by Plasmodium falciparum (25%; 12/48), malaria-negative infections (25%; 12/48), and mixed infections (4.1%; 2/48). All 48 batches passed internal validation by WHO-certified level-1 microscopists. For a batch, the true count was the median of the validators' counts (range, 111-280,795 parasites/µL). Except for mixed infections, the PCR results agreed with the verified microscopy results. Malaria slide bank slides would be a valuable tool for quality control, assurance, and microscopist training.
- Published
- 2024
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