identification of human plasmodium species using pcr-rflp technique

objectives: malaria is the most important tropical disease in terms of morbidity and mortality. the diagnosis of malaria can be conveniently subdivided into clinical, parasitological, biochemical, serological and molecular biological detection. the objective of the present work was to compare two techniques, blood smear and pcr-rflp, for detection of plasmodium species. materials & methods: totally, 46 positive blood samples of malaria were examined by these two methods. in parasitological detection, direct observation of plasmodium in geimsa-stained thick and thin blood smears were carried out. in polymerase chain reaction (pcr) method, the target dna was a segment of 18s rrna gene. in rflp technique three enzymes, hinf i, hae iii and tsp45 i, were used. results: the results indicated that, by direct observation of thin smear, 35 and 11cases were identified as plasmodium vivax and plasmodium falciparum respectively. but molecular analysis showed that 2 of 11 cases of plasmodium falciparum were plasmodium vivax whereas 3 of 35 cases of plasmodium vivax were plasmodium falciparum. conclusion: in diagnosis of human plasmodium species, the pcr-rflp technique was found more appropriate and sensitive than blood smear technique.