Parasitemia

Parasitemia
MeSH	D018512

WikiDoc Resources for Parasitemia
Articles
Most recent articles on Parasitemia Most cited articles on Parasitemia Review articles on Parasitemia Articles on Parasitemia in N Eng J Med, Lancet, BMJ
Media
Powerpoint slides on Parasitemia Images of Parasitemia Photos of Parasitemia Podcasts & MP3s on Parasitemia Videos on Parasitemia
Evidence Based Medicine
Cochrane Collaboration on Parasitemia Bandolier on Parasitemia TRIP on Parasitemia
Clinical Trials
Ongoing Trials on Parasitemia at Clinical Trials.gov Trial results on Parasitemia Clinical Trials on Parasitemia at Google
Guidelines / Policies / Govt
US National Guidelines Clearinghouse on Parasitemia NICE Guidance on Parasitemia NHS PRODIGY Guidance FDA on Parasitemia CDC on Parasitemia
Books
Books on Parasitemia
News
Parasitemia in the news Be alerted to news on Parasitemia News trends on Parasitemia
Commentary
Blogs on Parasitemia
Definitions
Definitions of Parasitemia
Patient Resources / Community
Patient resources on Parasitemia Discussion groups on Parasitemia Patient Handouts on Parasitemia Directions to Hospitals Treating Parasitemia Risk calculators and risk factors for Parasitemia
Healthcare Provider Resources
Symptoms of Parasitemia Causes & Risk Factors for Parasitemia Diagnostic studies for Parasitemia Treatment of Parasitemia
Continuing Medical Education (CME)
CME Programs on Parasitemia
International
Parasitemia en Espanol Parasitemia en Francais
Business
Parasitemia in the Marketplace Patents on Parasitemia
Experimental / Informatics
List of terms related to Parasitemia

Parasitemia is the quantitative content of parasites in the blood. It is used as a measurement of parasite load in the organism and an indication of the degree of an active parasitic infection. Systematic measurement of parasitemia is important in many phases of the assessment of disease, such as in diagnosis and in the follow-up of therapy, particularly in the chronic phase, when cure depends on ascertaining a parasitemia of zero.

The methods to be used for quantifying parasitemia depends on the parasitic species and its life cycle. For instance, in malaria, the number of plasmodia can be counted using an optical microscope, on a special thick film (for low parasitemias) or thin film blood smear (for high parasitemias).

The use of molecular biology techniques, such as PCR has been more and more used as a tool to measure parasitemia, specially in patients in the chronic phase of disease. In this technique, blood samples are obtained from the patient, and specific DNA of the parasite is extracted and amplified by PCR.