Abstract:
Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) malarial degree of infection, termed as parasite density (PD), estimation is vital for point-
of-care diagnosis and treatment of the disease. In this work, we present application of optical techniques: optical absorption and
multispectral imaging for P. falciparum malarial byproduct (hemozoin) detection in human-infected blood samples to estimate
PD. The blood samples were collected from volunteers who were tested positive for P. falciparum infections (i-blood), and after
treatment, another set of blood samples (u-blood) were also taken. The i-blood samples were grouped based on PD (+, ++, +++,
and ++++). Optical densities (ODs) of u-blood samples and i-blood samples at blood absorption bands of 405 nm, 541 nm, and
577 nm showed different optical absorption characteristics. Empirical computation of ratio of the ODs for the blood absorption
bands revealed reduction in the ODs with increasing PD. Multispectral images containing uninfected red blood cells (u-RBCs)
and P. falciparum-infected red blood cells (i-RBCs) on unstained blood smear slides exhibited spectrally determined decrease in
both reflected and scattered pixel intensities and increase in transmitted pixel intensities with increasing PD. We further propose a
linear classification model based on Fisher’s approach using reflected, scattered, and transmitted pixel intensities for easy and
inexpensive estimation of PD as an alternative to manual estimation of PD, currently, the widely used technique. Application of
the optical techniques and the proposed linear classification model are therefore recommended for improved malaria diagnosis
and therapy
