Evaluation of a Synthetic Oligonucleotide Probe for Diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparium Infections

摘要

A radiolabeled synthetic obligonucleotide was evaluated as a diagnostic probe specific for Plasmodium falciparum using blood samples lysed directly on nitrocellulose filters. The probe technique successfully diagnosed malaria in experimentally infected chimpanzees that had 0.001% parasitemias (50 parasites/ul) as determined by blood smears, and in 1 chimpanzee whose blood smear was negative but whose blood was culture-positive for P. falciparum. In a double blind study of 50 patient samples from the Philippines, the probe results correlated well with blood smear results when the autoradiographs were read after 4-8 hr exposure. The results indicate that the oligonucleotide probe may be useful in the rapid and specific diagnosis of P. falciparum infection. Keywords: Malaria. (Reprints)