Key Diagnostik Features

Plasmodia (gametocytes)

Diagnostic features of Giemsa stained malaria parasites

Parasite itself:

• size (in comparison to erythrocyte)
• shape (circular, ovoid, “banana”)
• cytoplasm (colour, homogeneous, compact, vacuoles, pigment)
• nucleus, nuclei (number, chromatin mass, staining pattern)

Parasitized host cell:

• size (normal, enlarged, smaller)
• shape (unchanged, oval, irregular edges)
• cytoplasm (colour, with/without Schüffner’s dots, Maurer’s clefts)