Parasitology Platform

Supervisor: Jean Bopda

The basic parasitology platform is a research laboratory at ISM, specialized in medical parasitology, especially for tropical diseases. The activities are based on laboratory diagnosis in support of ISM clinical and research activities, as well as training of students from various universities and training schools.

We are using different diagnostic approa- ches for the diagnostic of parasites, inclu- ding direct parasitological diagnosis based on microscopy, in different types of samples. We also use Kato Katz and Mini FLOTAC techniques to search for parasi- tes in stool samples, filtration technique to search for schistosomiasis  and micro- filariae in urine samples, as well as skin snip to search for microfilariae under the skin for the diagnostic of onchocerciasis.

Many techniques are used in the Basic Parasitology platform of the CRFilMT Laboratory to search for parasites in blood samples, including thin and thick blood smears for different stages of malaria parasites, calibrated thick blood smear for the qualitative and quanti- tative diagnosis of microfilariae, blood filtration for isolation of blood-dwelling microfilaria, as well as dry blood spots for further immunological and molecular analyzes.