Initially developed to look at malaria infections, the test can pinpoint how long ago a person was exposed to an infection A global team of researchers has devised a new blood test to detect a person’s immunity to an infectious disease by indicating when a person was last exposed to the infection.
The testing approach has been initially developed to track the spread of deadly, relapsing ‘vivax’ malaria, which is caused by plasmodium vivax, P.
vivax, a parasite responsible for most cases of recurring malaria. The parasite can be carried in a dormant state by people and can later reawaken to continue spreading the disease, according to scientists.