How long does it take for Malaria blood tests to come back with accurate results?

Question

My girlfriend has recently been taken into hospital and no-one knows what's wrong with her. The hospital took bloods to test for Malaria and came back within 24hrs saying that she was clear, however I have heard from other sources (without any evidence yet) that it can take up to 2 months for the blood cultures to grow.

Can someone please answer with a link to a trusted source stating how long it should normally take?

Many thanks,

Pan

Answer 1

Malaria is a parasite.  Plasmodium is the genus and there are at least 4 species; malariae, falciparum, ovale and vivax.

These cannot be grown in culture.  The easiest way to diagnose them is to prepare what's known as a thick and thin blood smear.

Its just what it sounds like.  One 1 slide you make a thin blood smear and on another slide you drop blood so that it puddles up.  Let them air dry and then stain them both.

The parasites are visible in the blood smears.  If the sample is taken during a fever episode, the chances of finding the parasite are very good.

It only takes about 1 hour to prepare the slides, stain them, dry and examine them, if the tech is experienced.

There are antigen detection methods; ParaSite-F is one I've heard of, but never used.  Its supposed to be quite sensitive.

Below is a link to everything you always wanted to know about malaria, but were afraidto ask.