Blood test: a potential new tool for controlling infections

A new technique could provide vital information about a community’s immunity to infectious diseases including malaria and Covid-19.

The diagnostic test analyses a blood sample to reveal immune markers that indicate whether – and when – a person was exposed to an infection. It was developed to track malaria infections in communities, to assist in the elimination of deadly ‘relapsing’ malaria, but is now being adapted to track immunity to Covid-19 in more detail than existing tests.

This new diagnostic approach, published in Nature Medicine, has the potential to enhance infectious diseases surveillance – particularly in lower income countries where it can enable health authorities to track the spread of a disease in a community and target resources where they are most needed. The research was led by researchers from Institut Pasteur, France; the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia; and Ehime University, Japan.

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