A thin and two thick blood smears were stained with 3%nGiemsa solution (Merck) for 30 min and microscopically examined at 1 000 for Plasmodium spp. detection and parasite density determination by three well trained microscopists. Discrepancies of the results were resolved by an expert microscopist. The parasite density (parasites/L) was done by counting 500 white blood cells from each positive thick blood film and the number of leukocyte density (WBCs/L) was estimated as 8 000. Red blood cell (RBC) morphology and White blood cell (WBC) differentiation were determined in thin blood films. Each blood film required approximately 20 minutes to read before negative results were reported. Calculation of parasitemia = (the number of parasites 8000) / the number of leucocytes