ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Malaria is a problematic disease in Korea, and microscopic examination of Giemsa-stained blood smear has been used as the gold standard for its diagnosis. However, this technique is time-consuming and has low sensitivity in samples with low numbers of malarial parasites (<20 parasites/microL). Here, we evaluated the performance characteristics of the LG Advansure(TM) Malaria P.f./P.v. real-time QPCR (LG life sciences, Korea). METHODS: Blood samples from 173 persons who visited Korea University Ansan Hospital were evaluated. QPCR was performed in 73 malaria patients and 100 healthy subjects by using the LG Advansure Malaria P.f./P.v. real-time QPCRR kit, and the results were compared with those of microscopy. The detection limit of this kit was determined by serial dilution of Plasmodium-infected blood with normal blood (blood not infected with Plasmodium). RESULTS: Among the 73 patients that were microscopically confirmed to have malaria (Plasmodium vivax infection, N=70, P. falciparum infection, N=3), 69 patients were diagnosed with P. vivax infection and 3 were diagnosed with P. falciparum infection by LG Advansure(TM) Malaria P.f./P.v. real-time QPCR. Both the tests indicated absence of infection in the 100 healthy subjects. The detection limit of LG Advansure(TM) Malaria P.f./P.v. real-time QPCR was 0.1 parasite/microL. CONCLUSIONS: LG Advansure(TM) Malaria P.f./P.v. real-time QPCR is a very sensitive and specific technique and can be used as a confirmatory test for malaria.