Method for detection of malaria and other parasite infections

A method of detecting a parasite infection using a blood sample comprising the steps of:

• (a) mixing said blood sample with a lytic reagent system to lyse red blood cells, and to form a sample mixture;
• (b) performing a differential analysis of white blood cells of said sample mixture on a blood analyzer;
• and obtaining a first cell volume distribution of a first white blood cell subpopulation and a second cell volume distribution of a second white blood cell subpopulation from a cell volume measurement used in said differential analysis;
• (c) obtaining a first cell volume parameter from said first cell volume distribution of said first white blood cell subpopulation and obtaining a second cell volume parameter from said second cell volume distribution of said second white blood cell subpopulation;
• (d) obtaining a discriminant as a function of said first and second cell volume parameters;
• and
• (e) evaluating said discriminant against a predetermined criterion, and reporting an indication of said parasite infection if said discriminant meets said predetermined criterion.

A method of detecting a parasite infection using a blood sample comprising the steps of:

• (a) mixing said blood sample with a lytic reagent system to lyse red blood cells, and to form a sample mixture;
• (b) performing a differential analysis of white blood cells of said sample mixture on a blood analyzer, and obtaining a first cell distribution of a first white blood cell subpopulation from an impedance measurement used in said differential analysis;
• (c) obtaining a first cell distribution parameter from said first cell distribution of said white blood cell subpopulation;
• (d) evaluating said first cell distribution parameter against a first predetermined criterion, and reporting an indication of said parasite infection if said first cell distribution parameter meets said predetermined criterion.