Читать книгу Practical Guide to Diagnostic Parasitology - Lynne Shore Garcia - Страница 17

Most diagnostic parasitology procedures can be performed either within the hospital setting or in an offsite location. There are very few procedures within this discipline that must be performed and reported on a STAT basis. Two procedures fall into the STAT category: request for examination of blood films for the diagnosis of malaria or other blood parasites and examination of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for the presence of free-living amebae, primarily Naegleria fowleri. Any laboratory providing diagnostic parasitology procedures must be prepared to examine these specimens on a STAT basis 7 days a week, 24 h a day. Unfortunately, these two procedures can be very difficult to perform and interpret; cross-trained individuals with little microbiology training or experience will find this work difficult and subject to error, and this will cause severe risk management issues for the laboratory. It has been well documented that automated hematology instrumentation lacks the sensitivity to diagnose malaria infections, particularly since most patients seen in an emergency room have a very low parasitemia. However, even a low parasitemia can be life-threatening in an infection with Plasmodium falciparum.