Detection of Plasmodium knowlesi DNA in the urine and faeces of a Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) over the course of an experimentally induced infection

Background Diagnostic techniques based on PCR for the detection of Plasmodium DNA can be highly sensitive and specific. The vast majority of these techniques rely, however, on the invasive sampling of blood from infected hosts. There is, currently, considerable interest in the possibility of using body fluids other than blood as sources of parasite DNA for PCR diagnosis.