Development of an immunoenzymatic assay using a monoclonal antibody against a 50-kDa catabolite from the P126 Plasmodium falciparum protein to the diagnosis of malaria infection.

The WHO criterion of defering any donation of blood by a confirmed case of malaria for three years after cessation of therapy can not be applied in areas where malaria is endemic. For this reason we developed an immunoenzymatic assay for the detection of plasmodial antigens for blood screening in malarial endemic areas. So, we tested sera from 191 individuals. Among patients with active disease 100% of the cases of Plasmodium falciparum or mixed infections and 91.7% of those with P. vivax were positive for the presence of plasmodial antigens. The lower parasitaemia detected was 0.0003% for P. falciparum and 0.001% for P. vivax malária. When the frequency of positive circulating malarial antigens was evaluated among asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals with negative TBS, positive results were found in respectively 38.7% and 17.7% of the individuals studied in the 30 days after confirmed malaria attack. Data provide by these assays have shown that ELISA seemed to be more sensitive than parasitological examination for malaria diagnosis. This test by virtue of its high sensitivity and the facilities in processing a large number of specimens, can prove to be useful in endemic areas for the recognition of asymptomatic malaria and screening of blood donors.