SOP – Malaria Microscopy - NVBDCP

Quality Assurance of Malaria Diagnostic testsNATIONAL VECTOR BORNE DISEASE CONTROL PROGRAMME (NVBDCP)STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE FOR QASOP TitlePRESERVATION AND DISPATCH OF SAMPLESSOP No. SOP: M 02 Revision No. 0.0 Effective Date Dec. 2007Replacement No Dated Page No.Next Review onMaximum 2 years from “effective date”SOP: M 02 - PRESERVATION AND DISPATCH OF SAMPLES8.2.1 PurposeThis SOP describes the correct procedure of collection, preservation and propertransportation of the blood smears to the laboratory under optimum conditions for malariamicroscopy.8.2.2 PrincipleEffective diagnosis depends upon the correct procedure and the time of collection as regardto the stage of the disease, preservation and proper transportation of the clinical samples tothe laboratory under optimum conditions.8.2.3 Collection of blood smears for microscopySee SOP M.1 for preparation of blood smears8.2.4 Preservation of the blood films at peripheral level• place the blood films properly in order to allow the thick film to dry evenly.• protect from flies and dust. When the thick film is completely dry, store the slides inthe cardboard/plastic slide box.• when long storage is unavoidable, then keep the slides in a dry cool place away fromdirect sunlight or any source of heat.• While storing, place the slides horizontally, which allows the thick film to dry witheven thickness.NOTE: The common practice at present is that the slides are wrapped in MF2. It iswrong practice, many a times the MF2 are torn, resulting in loss of patients details inmany times. Therefore, under QA it is envisaged that if required, slides along with theMF2 should be wrapped in a separate clean piece of paper.8.2.5 Dispatch of the blood smear from the periphery• keep the blood smears collected in the field in the slide box till these aredeposited to the malaria laboratory.• wrap these dry slides and MF2 in a clean paper and in the same packet toavoid mixing up of the slides with those submitted by others and deposit in thelaboratory.SOP – Malaria Microscopy© Copyright to Dte. NVBDCP Only. Any modification are prohibited