Table 1.

Timeline of microbiological investigations for malaria

doa	Thick and thin smear microscopy				BinaxNOW RDT		PCR Ct value
	Ring forms	Trophozoite forms	Schizont forms	Parasitemia (%)	T1 band (PfHRP2)	T2 band (Aldolase)
1	Moderate	Rare	None	0.3	Very strong	Very strong	22
2	Many	Rare	Rare	0.5	Very strong	Very strong	NP
	Many	Rare	Rare	2.0	NP	NP	NP
3	Numerous	Few	Rare	1.7	Very strong	Very strong	NP
4	Numerous	Few	Rare	1.1	NP	NP	NP
	Numerous	None	None	1.2	Very strong	Moderate	NP
5	Many	Few	None	1.0	Strong	Faint	NP
	Numerous	None	None	0.4	Very strong	Strong	NP
6	Numerous	None	None	0.5	Very strong	Moderate	NP
	Numerous	None	None	0.5	Strong	Faint	NP
7	Many	None	None	0.4	NP	NP	NP
8	Many	None	None	0.3	Strong	Faint	NP
11	Few	None	None	<0.1	Very faint	None	NP
	Few	None	None	<0.1	Very faint	None	NP
12	Few	None	None	<0.1	Very faint	None	NP
13	None	None	None	Neg	Very faint	None	25.5
14	Rare	None	None	<0.1	None	None	28.6
15	Rare (thick only)	None	None	<0.1	None	None	NP
16	Three rings (thick only)	None	None	<0.1	None	None	NP

Ct = cycle threshold; DOA = date of admission; NP = not performed; PCR = polymerase chain reaction; PfHRP2 = Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2; RDT = rapid diagnostic test. Thick and thin smear microscopy was performed by the hospital hematology laboratory and confirmed by the provincial reference laboratory, which confirms 200 to 300 positive malaria specimens per year. Parasitemia was calculated from thin smears as a percentage of infected red blood cells, with a minimum of 2,000 red blood cells assessed across randomly obtained fields of view and excluding gametocytes. Subjective quantities of each Plasmodium stage are also described. Immunochromatographic testing was performed by the BinaxNOW RDT (Abbott, Chicago, IL). Subjective band intensity is also described. Real-time PCR was conducted as previously clinically validated for academic purposes.²¹ Bolded text refers to positive results.