Malaria testing

[umeshkumar]

Hi,

We have been screening blood donors for malaria by the conventional microscopy of stained peripheral blood smear.

Riyadh is not endemic for Malaria. Most of our Donors are Saudi nationals from Riyadh.

Now we have decided to replace this by Malaria antibody screening (ELISA, Biorad). The kit cataloque mentions that it is approved for screening blood donors.

We thought of a protocol of testing all donors for malaria Ab by ELISA and then making smears for microscopy for the Antibody reactive donor samples.

1. Is this acceptable?

2. What are the AABB regulations on Malaria testing for Blood donors?

3. What kits are FDA approved for malaria testing for Donors?

thanks

[Smarty pants]

Hi,We have been screening blood donors for malaria by the conventional microscopy of stained peripheral blood smear.Riyadh is not endemic for Malaria. Most of our Donors are Saudi nationals from Riyadh.Now we have decided to replace this by Malaria antibody screening (ELISA, Biorad). The kit cataloque mentions that it is approved for screening blood donors.We thought of a protocol of testing all donors for malaria Ab by ELISA and then making smears for microscopy for the Antibody reactive donor samples.1. Is this acceptable?2. What are the AABB regulations on Malaria testing for Blood donors?3. What kits are FDA approved for malaria testing for Donors?thanks

Since there are no endemic areas in the US ... I don't know of a blood center that does ANY malaria screening of donors.I am unaware of any ABBB/ FDA regulation surrounding malaria testing for donors. I think you're on your own on that one. Sorry can't help.

[rravkin@aol.com]

You can try looking at the AABB or NIH (National Institute of Health) web sites for direction if not answers.

[David Saikin]

There are no standards to test for Malaria in the USA. We do defer donors (temporarily) who have been in endemic areas or who have been treated for the disease