NIR “matchbox size” spectrometer can quantify and detect malaria infection in Plasmodium falciparum infected red blood cells

Abstract

New point-of-care diagnostic approaches for malaria that are highly sensitive, portable and affordable are urgently needed to meet the World Health Organization’s objective of reducing malaria cases and related life losses by at least 90% globally on or before 2030.1 In this study, an ultra-cheap matchbox size near-infrared (NIR) spectrophotometer was used for the first time to detect and quantify malaria infection in vitro from isolated dried red blood cells using a fingerpick volume (15 μl) of blood, down to 0.0001% parasitemia.