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American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 5(81), p. 782-783, 2009

DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.2009.09-0383

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A Simplified, Low-Cost Method for Polarized Light Microscopy

Journal article published in 2009 by Richard J. Maude ORCID, Wanchana Buapetch, Kamolrat Silamut
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Malaria pigment is an intracellular inclusion body that appears in blood and tissue specimens on microscopic examination and can help in establishing the diagnosis of malaria. In simple light microscopy, it can be difficult to discern from cellular background and artifacts. It has long been known that if polarized light microscopy is used, malaria pigment can be much easier to distinguish. However, this technique is rarely used because of the need for a relatively costly polarization microscope. We describe a simple and economical technique to convert any standard light microscope suitable for examination of malaria films into a polarization microscope.