The role of saliva in malaria diagnostics

Dr Benji Pretorius, managing director of Erada Technology Alliance (Ebene, Mauritius) and practicing emergency unit doctor, has faced the challenge of dealing with malaria throughout his career. Now, during the pandemic, recognizing and correctly diagnosing malaria has become more difficult because the disease shares symptoms with the novel COVID-19 virus. Here, Dr Pretorius examines the use of saliva, rather than blood, in rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) for malaria and how this clinically informative biofluid could help to accelerate malaria diagnostics in the world’s poorest communities and take the strain off medical professionals during the pandemic. Globally, incredible progress in the...