ERADA Technology Alliance Ltd, a diagnostic infectious diseases solutions company, plans to release a saliva test for malaria.
The test is the first to use saliva. Traditional tests use blood and must be processed by trained clinicians.
The test detects a unique biomarker from female malaria-carrying parasites. This biomarker is often missed in blood tests as the patient is asymptomatic and the parasites have mutated.
Early detection leads to early treatment. It also helps curb the spread of the disease. Asymptomatic patients are carriers of the disease and can infect mosquitoes that bite the infected. The mosquitos then bite other people, spreading the disease.
The test will be sold under the name a saliva-based Malaria Asymptomatic and Asexual Rapid Test (SMAART) for subclinical infection.
“The introduction of SMAART is going to play a major part in achieving effective diagnostic testing and surveillance; as well as prevention and treatment of this disease, and therefore will be a major catalyst in meeting the WHO’s (World Health Organization) 2030 target to reduce malaria incidence and mortality by 90 percent,” Dr. Benji Pretorius, ERADA’s founder and managing director, said.
Annually, malaria kills approximately 435,000 people, mostly children in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In 2017, malaria cases increased by 3.5 million in the 10 highest burden African countries, according to WHO’s World Malaria Report of 2018.