Detection of malaria parasites in thick blood smear: A review

Based on data from World Health Organization, in 2015, there are 90% of deaths caused by malaria disease in Africa, Southeast Asia and countries of eastern Mediterranean. It makes the malaria become one of the most dangerous diseases that often leads to death. To support the diagnosis of malaria, early detection of plasmodium parasite is needed. Recently, malaria diagnosis process can be done with the help of computer, or often referred to as Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD). By utilizing the digital image from the blood staining process, digital image processing can be performed to detect the presence of malaria parasite. There are 2 types of blood smear images that can be used in the malaria diagnosis process, namely, thin blood smear images and thick blood smear images. This paper provides a review of the techniques and methods used in the diagnosis of computer-assisted malaria using thick blood smear images as a diagnostic material.