This assay could be useful in Indian regions that are non-endemic for malaria, in order to assess whether local people are exposed to the infection or not and to help control seasonal malaria outbreaks following the monsoon rains. Indians move around in significant numbers for festivals, business or pilgrimages. Such movements of population from non-endemic to endemic regions often result in travellers being exposed to malaria.

Cellabs has recently developed a novel and highly sensitive in vitro diagnostic test to overcome the shortfalls of traditional Giemsa microscopy. The Rapimal-FA test is a direct immuno fluorescence microscopic test where a monoclonal antibody labelled with a fluorescent dye (FITC) is used to stain directly, the malaria parasites in blood smears. We have also developed another immuno fluorescence test for malaria targeting P. vivax parasites. These two immuno fluorescence tests are useful for analyzing blood smears of actual malaria parasites. They provide a simpler, quicker and more reliable way to diagnose malaria infection than conventional Giemsa microscopy, even at low parasitemia.

Cellabs has also recently developed another in vitro diagnostic test for malaria that is ideally suited for use in blood banks and which provides a highly sensitive detection even at low parasitemia, where conventional Giemsa microscopy commonly fails to provide a reliable diagnosis. This new assay, Quantimal pLDH CELISA, can measure the number of malaria parasites in infected patient blood samples down to a few parasites, per microlitre of blood.