Rapid Malaria Test for Diagnosis and Treatment. Phase I

Malaria infects over 200 million people and is responsible for 2 million deaths annually. Flow Inc. has developed diagnostic and culture and sensitivity procedures based upon the fact that the parasite contains an enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) (US patent 5124141) Flow Inc. recently increased the sensitivity to 50-100 parasites/ul with monoclonal antibodies. These newly formatted wet (immunocapture), and dry (immuno-chromatographic) assays, can differentiate Plasmodium falciparum from other Plasmodium sp. that infect humans; and appears to be able to monitor the effectiveness of in vivo and in vitro drug therapy. The development of such a rapid simple to perform, easy to interpret, diagnostic, and in vitro and in vivo therapeutic assays for the malaria parasite has application for diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring in the developing world; for US troops stationed in these areas of the world for epidemiological surveillance; and to monitor the effectiveness of new antimalarials in vitro and in vivo.