American Journal of Molecular Biology, 2020, 10, 224-245 https://www.scirp.org/journal/ajmb ISSN Online: 2161-6663 ISSN Print: 2161-6620 DOI: 10.4236/ajmb.2020.103015 Jul. 16, 2020 224 American Journal of Molecular Biology Could the Level in Parasitaemia of Plasmodium Determine Sensitivity to Various Diagnostic Tests? Obed Nanjul Goselle 1* , Godwin Yandu Ajiji 1 , Anvou Jambol 2 , Joseph Terhema Sunday 3 , Ojochemi Sunday Idoko 1 , Shedrach Sunday Udoh 1 , Oliseemeka Charles Ejete 1 , Yahaya Mbaya Ahmadu 1 , Henrietta Oluwatoyin Awobode 4 , Godwin Nyiutaha Imandeh 5 , Bernard Malau Matur 1 1 Applied Entomology and Parasitology Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria 2 National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Nigeria 3 Health and Development Support Programme, Jos, Nigeria 4 Department of Zoology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria 5 Department of Zoology, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria Abstract The discovery of Plasmodium parasites and its incrimination as the principal cause of malaria in humans has continued to excite researchers towards in- venting possible easier methods of diagnosing and identifying these patho- logical agents in order to mitigate, control and eliminate its continuous scourge to humanity. Currently, three diagnostic methods have been proposed, but agreements as to whether the level of parasitaemia in an individual could connote likely confirmations in the three methods i.e. gold standard, RDTs’ and PCR/NESTED PCR, have continued to be a subject of debate. To lay to rest the debate as reported in many studies, we collected blood samples from 100 symptomatic patients who reported to the Jos-Nigeria hospital and using the gold standard methods, we were able to confirm that 30 (30%) samples out of the 100 blood samples collected were positive to P. falciparum, chiefly recorded among duffy-negative Africans. Excited with our findings, we pre- pared the thick blood films for each sample and used it to estimate the levels of parasitaemia (parasites density) per μl of blood (i.e. 1+; 2+; 3+ and 4+) per 100 high power fields (|HPF). We then subjected the individually confirmed parasite density samples to the other two methods i.e. Rapid Diagnostic Test (one-step RTD and optimal-IT® RDT) and to molecular assay (PCR and the nested PCR). Interestingly, of the 30 positive samples, 18 (60%) were con- firmed positive to the one-step and optimal-IT® RDTS, while 3 (30%) out of the 10 (100%) samples of various parasite density subjected to molecular as- How to cite this paper: Goselle, O.N., Ajiji, G.Y., Jambol, A., Sunday, J.T., Idoko, O.S., Udoh, S.S., Ejete, O.C., Ahmadu, Y.M., Awobode, H.O., Imandeh, G.N. and Matur, B.M. (2020) Could the Level in Parasitaemia of Plasmodium Determine Sensitivity to Various Diagnostic Tests? American Jour- nal of Molecular Biology, 10, 224-245. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajmb.2020.103015 Received: May 12, 2020 Accepted: July 13, 2020 Published: July 16, 2020 Copyright © 2020 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access