STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES FOR MALARIAL PARASITE

1. SPECIMEN:

1. Blood sample

2. EQUIPMENT & REAGENTS

1. Equipment:
   1. Malarial parasite kit (also includes reagent).

3. PROCEDURE:

1. Apply blood from the tube into the center of the cassette sample well by pressing the end of the tube onto the absorbent paper in the well.
2. Allow up to 30 seconds for the specimen to be absorbed before adding the reagent.
3. Add 5 drops (about 8 µl) of the reagent into the sample well.
4. Results are read in 5 – 10 minutes for strong positives.
5. Wait up to 15 minutes for weaker positives and to make sure negatives are confirmed.
6. Do not read results after 15 minutes.
7. If the membrane does not clear sufficiently after 2 minutes, one more drop of reagent may be added to the (sample) well of the cassette.
8. Observe the result:
   1. The test is negative if only the Control line appears.
   2. If neither control or test line appears, the result is invalid.
   3. The test is positive when both control and test lines appear in the test window.
9. Prepare lab report of the observations.