METHOD FOR DETECTION OF AND DETERMINATION OF MALARIA ANTIBODIES AND MALARIA ANTIGENS IN HUMAN BLOOD

摘要

A high sensitivity method for detecting the presence of malarial parasites of the order of 1 parasite or less per 106 infected human red blood cells, which consists in the inhibition of binding of Plasmodial antibodies, to enriched Plasmodium falciparum antigen preparation or Plasmodium berghei antigen crossreacting with Plasmodium falciparum, present on a solid phase adsorbent. The method is capable to detect at a high sensitivity the ring forms which characterize the parasites in the blood of patients. The detection can be performed by utilizing radioactive materials, fluoresence assay or standard ELISA procedure. A kit for carrying out the method of the invention is also disclosed, comprising a solid adsorbent treated with enriched sonicated red blood cells infected with Plasmodium falciparum, or Plasmodium berghei crossreacting with Plasmodium falciparum, buffer, labelled anti-immunoglobulin and standard positive and negative samples for calibration purposes.