Molecular detection of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax prevalence in North Indian population

ABSTRACT

Currently, malaria ranks as the 5th major cause of death in developing countries. There are six human malarial parasites species, with Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) and P. vivax (Pv) being the most predominant. This study enrolled 165 outpatients of a tertiary care hospital of the northeast district of Delhi. Blood samples were taken and were examined for malaria by slide microscopy and rapid malarial antigen detection test. DNA extraction was done and PCR was performed for genus as well as species identification. A total of 60 (36.36%) malaria positive samples were identified among a total of 165 samples collected. P. vivax and P. falciparum were found to be present in 51.66 and 13.33% samples, respectively and 18.33% samples were positive for both the species on the basis of PCR analysis. The present study suggests that while the traditional methods for diagnosis of malarial infection are gold standard they will not be able to detect mixed infections with low parasite count