Characterization of the malaria parasite optical features for development of a non-invasive diagnostic device

• Main Author: Baptista, Vitória Cunha
• Publication Date: 2019
• Other Authors: Calçada, Carla Sofia Martins, Teixeira, Miguel Monteiro, Ferreira, Pedro Eduardo Mendes, Minas, Graça, Catarino, Susana Oliveira, Veiga, Maria Isabel
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/68171
• topic: Ciências Médicas::Biotecnologia Médica; Engenharia e Tecnologia::Engenharia Eletrotécnica, Eletrónica e Informática; Engenharia e Tecnologia::Engenharia Médica

[Excerpt] Early and accurate malaria diagnosis is critical for the disease control and elimination [1]. Microscopy and/or immuno-rapid tests remain the standard diagnosis [2, 3], nevertheless it requires a skin puncture for blood sampling and not sensitive enough for reliable detect lowdensity parasitemias, urging the need to develop more sensitive and non-invasive tools. Symptoms of the disease starts when parasites infect the red blood cell (RBC), suffering biochemical and morphological changes [4]. Parasite survival is dependent on hemozoin (Hz) formation as a by-product of heme detoxification process of the parasite upon haemoglobin (Hb) degradation and therefore a good unique feature to identify parasites presence in patients’. Taking advantage of the fact that the Hz and Hb molar extinction coefficients differ significantly, especially at certain wavelengths [4, 5], and their proportion is inversely related upon parasite maturation inside the RBC, each stage of malaria is characterized by specific absorbance and reflectance spectra, according to the Hb/Hz concentrations on the iRBC. [...]