Skip to main content
. 2014 Dec 3;9(12):e112868. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112868

Figure 3. Proportion of children with high density parasite (HDP) in the red cell polymorphisms.

Figure 3

Children with high density parasite (HDP) defined as ≧10,000 parasites/µL of blood was classified according to the red cell polymorphisms. This cut off value was used because of the likelihood of a clinical attack when blood-stage parasites density exceeds 10,000 parasites/µL in endemic regions. Thick blood films were stained with Giemsa and the numbers of malaria parasites were counted against leukocytes. The microscopist counted fields containing 200 leukocytes. If <10 parasites were observed, the counting continued up to 500 leukocytes. Where microscopists did the parasite counts in the thin film (against 2,000 red blood cells) as a result of heavy parasitaemia (greater or equal to 100 parasites per thick smear high power field), parasites counted were recalculated with 200 WBC. Parasite densities were calculated using absolute leukocytes/L of blood. (A), Bars indicate percentage of children with HDP in the haemoglobin variants subgroup and (B) bars showing HDP in the G6PD variants subgroup.