Processes and Software Building—Part 35:
Malaria Testing Donor Screening Process
Zeyd Merenkov, MD, FCAP, FASCP
Independent Consultant in Transfusion Medicine and Information Technology
The malaria screening varies considerably by country. I chose for Qatar to follow a combination of WHO and Australian guidelines as per the attached criteria. We used a malaria antibody screen and malaria antigen test. There are many alternate approaches, including using a malaria NAT. The actual specification was:
- Malaria Testing:
- Defer donor if he has been in malarial endemic zone within the past 3 months
- If travel to malarial zone > 3 months, do malarial antibody testing:
- Malaria antibody negative: no deferral
- Malaria antibody positive, perform malarial antigen test:
- Malaria antigen test positive, refer to Infectious Disease clinic—defer until 3 years after cessation of treatment
- Malaria antigen test negative:
- Plasma may be collected
- RBCs and platelets must be destroyed.
- Repeat malarial antibodies after 3 years:
- If malarial antibody test positive, donor must not be used for RBC components but may be used for plasma production
- If malarial antibody test negative, reenter donor for all components
- Defer donor if he has received malarial treatment (not prophylaxis) for 3 years
- After 3 years, perform both malarial antibody and antigen testing:
- Defer based on section 5.2
- After 3 years, perform both malarial antibody and antigen testing:
The Medinfo testing algorithm follows:

To Be Continued:
22/8/20