Molecular detection of Plasmodium vivax on dry blood spot in Eastern Sudan
Plasmodium vivax nowadays is emerging as one of the common causative species of malaria mainly in Sudan. Laboratory studies based on genomic approaches provide an alternative to identify the increased frequency of recurrent relapses of malaria infections and cases of low parasitemia such as P. vivax . The main objective of this study was to compare the performance of PCR and RDT to the gold standard diagnostics microscopy as a mean of detecting Plasmodium vivax parasites during active malaria. A total of 572 febrile patients were enrolled in the present study from Kassala, Halfa, and Eastern Nile area of Sudan. The sample was diagnosed by quality, insured microscopy, ICT (Immune- Chromatography Test) and PCR methods. The results indicated that the incidence of P. vivax infections among suspected malaria cases was relatively high. The total positive samples number of P. vivax by three methods was 164; while the three methods detected 71 (28.7%), 70 (28.3%), and 123 (38.8%), respectively. The study findings indicated the changing Plasmodium vivax distribution pattern which seemly attributed to the recent demographic movement and high rate of immigration from neighboring countries to the east region in the recent years; ending with such rising trend of P.vivax malaria in eastern Sudan due to which management of the dormant hypnozoite stage when treating the cases of relapsing malaria. In conclusion , detection of Plasmodium vivax gene showed superior capability to identify cases of low parasitemia compared to the gold standard diagnostic microscope methods and reliable mean for adequate detection and primarily tool for eliminating Plasmodium vivax malaria.