A modified semi-nested multiplex malaria PCR (SnM-PCR) for the identification of the five human Plasmodium species occurring in Southeast Asia.

We have modified an existing semi-nested multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by adding one Plasmodium knowlesi-specific nested PCR, and validated the latter against laboratory and clinical samples. This new method has the advantage of being relatively affordable in low resource settings while identifying the five human Plasmodium species with a three-step PCR.