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The Microscopic Diagnosis of Malaria

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Course Introduction   |   Overview   |   Plasmodium falciparum   |   Plasmodium vivax

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Lesson 2 - Plasmodium falciparum Placenta Touch Preparations

Placental smears are useful to assess the burden of infection in pregnancy. Because placental infection is associated with an increased risk of low birth weight, and thus, increased risk of early infant mortality, placental smears are also used to evaluate the impact of interventions on malaria infection in pregnancy.   Placental smears alone, however, probably do not represent the complete picture of risk. Past or resolved infection might be more sensitively diagnosed by characteristic histopathologic changes, even if touch preparations are negative. Clinical trials evaluating impact of prevention interventions during pregnancy on placental infection and low birth weight have used placental smears as the outcome indicator.

 

Placental smears seen here showed numerous mature trophozoites, granules of pigment, schizonts and macrophages containing ingested pigment. No gametocytes were seen.

Summary