Analysis of clinical specimens by hybridisation with probe containing repetitive DNA from Plasmodium falciparum. A novel approach to malaria diagnosis.

The capacity of a DNA probe containing cloned repetitive sequences from Plasmodium falciparum to identify malaria-infected blood samples was tested with a spot hybridisation assay. Parasitaemia levels of 0.001% could be detected in 50 microliters blood from patients. The probe correctly diagnosed P falciparum infection in patients from different continents and appeared to be specific for P falciparum, since it did not cross-react with three other Plasmodium species tested.