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Malaria is an infectious disease transmitted by bites from female mosquitoes that carry the protozoan parasites of malaria.

When an infected mosquito pierces a person's skin to take a blood meal, the sporozoites in the mosquito's saliva enter the bloodstream and migrate to the liver. The parasite is relatively protected from attack by the body's immune system because for most of its human life cycle it resides within the liver and blood cells and is relatively invisible to immune surveillance. By the time the human immune system learns to recognize the protein and starts making antibodies against it, the parasite has switched to another form of the protein, making it difficult for the immune system to keep up.

The countries with the highest rate of infection generally can be found globally along the equatorial belt because the warmer and more humid the climate the larger the mosquito population.

The exact number of people with malaria remains underreported because many of the incidents occur in rural areas where people do not have access to hospitals or the means to afford health care. However, between 350 and 500 million people currently have malaria and approximately 1.3 million people die from the disease every year, with up to 90% of these deaths occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Children under five years of age and pregnant women are the most vulnerable to severe cases of malaria. These deaths occur from what is described as a preventable disease.

Four species of Plasmodium parasites are responsible for malarial infections in humans: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae. By far the most prevalent is P. falciparum (Pf), accounting for over 90% of all malaria cases.

Hema Diagnostic Systems malaria tests detect specific antigens to the malarial parasites, Plasmodium falciparum (Pf), Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax (Pf/Pv), and all four strains of malaria (Pf/Pv/Multi).

HDS malaria tests come in two formats: the Rapid 1-2-3® HEMA EXPRESS® and the Rapid 1-2-3® HEMA Dipstick Format.