A thick blood smear is a laboratory diagnostic technique to detect malaria, a parasitic disease transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes. In this method, a drop of the patient's blood is spread on a microscope slide without a cover slip, creating a thick layer. This thick smear allows for the concentration of parasites, making it easier to detect low levels of parasitemia.
The blood smear is stained, commonly with Giemsa stain. The technique is valuable because it increases the sensitivity of malaria detection compared to thin smears, although it also does not preserve the morphology of parasites.
The thick blood smear test is highly sensitive to detecting low concentrations of parasites in the blood and allows quantification of parasites (e.g., percentage of infected erythrocytes).
However, the method requires time, technician experience, and often additional diagnostic procedures to identify the malaria species accurately.
See also:
Malaria (Plasmodium sp.), Antibodies Total
