Читать книгу Practical Guide to Diagnostic Parasitology - Lynne Shore Garcia - Страница 44

Potential diagnostic problems with the use of automated differential instruments have been reported. Some cases of malaria, as well as Babesia infection, have been completely missed by these methods. The number of fields scanned by a technologist on instrument-read smears is quite small; thus, failure to detect a low parasitemia is almost guaranteed. In cases of malaria and Babesia infection, after diagnosis had been made on the basis of smears submitted to the parasitology division of the laboratory, all previous smears examined by the automated system were reviewed and found to be positive for parasites. Failure to make the diagnosis resulted in delayed therapy. These instruments are not designed to detect intracellular blood parasites, and the inability of the automated systems to discriminate between uninfected erythrocytes and those infected with parasites may pose serious diagnostic problems in situations where the parasitemia is ≤0.5%.