Automated and unsupervised detection of malarial parasites in microscopic images

A method based on digital image processing of Giemsa-stained thin smear image is developed to facilitate the diagnostic process. The diagnosis procedure is divided into two parts; enumeration and identification. The image-based method presented here is designed to automate the process of enumeration and identification; with the main advantage being its ability to carry out the diagnosis in an unsupervised manner and yet have high sensitivity and thus reducing cases of false negatives.The image based method is tested over more than 500 images from two independent laboratories. The aim is to distinguish between positive and negative cases of malaria using thin smear blood slide images. Due to the unsupervised nature of method it requires minimal human intervention thus speeding up the whole process of diagnosis. Overall sensitivity to capture cases of malaria is 100% and specificity ranges from 50-88% for all species of malaria parasites.Image based screening method will speed up the whole process of diagnosis and is more advantageous over laboratory procedures that are prone to errors and where pathological expertise is minimal. Further this method provides a consistent and robust way of generating the parasite clearance curves.Malaria is an infectious disease and causes serious health problems; half of the world's population, particularly in the developing countries is at risk of malaria [1]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), malaria causes approximately nearly million deaths and over 250 million infections every year. and is caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium, of which Plasmodium falciparum contributes 98% of deaths [1]. The diagnosis of the infections due to P. falciparum is still carried out via manual procedures especially in developing countries. Although there are advanced methods of diagnosis [2], manual microscopy of blood films on slides is still considered to be the gold standard. Manual microscopy has advantage over other techniqu