Senior Professor,
Department of Medicine,
S.P. Medical College, Bikaner
Title of the project (LDI): A study of low-density malaria parasite infection in community and its transmission potential in Bikaner, Rajasthan
Summary:
As WHO aims malaria eradication by 2030, we have planned this study is to find out asymptomatic patients who act as carrier for transmission of malaria in low transmission area. The potential threat of a malaria epidemic in a low-transmission status is of great concern, as the majority of the asymptomatic patients are untreated. Asymptomatic patients act as reservoirs for local malaria transmission. A prerequisite in the effort to eliminate malaria from an area is to identify asymptomatic patients and treat them as well as to determine the transmission potential of LDI by gametocytes and manage accordingly.
Thus, a rapid and accurate diagnosis, as well as prompt and effective treatment, is critical for malaria elimination strategies in those regions. In this respect we have planned to evaluate all the suitable techniques available for malaria diagnosis including conventional microscopy, Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT), Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) as well as Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) to compare the relative sensitivity and specificity of the technique in low incidence area and assess the cost effectiveness for mass screening.
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