Thin blood smears consist of a layer of blood that is one erythrocyte thick, it preserves erythrocyte shape and parasites, therefore is for suitable for species identification, as in the thick blood smear, the erythrocytes undergo lysis (Tek et al, 2010). To prepare the thin blood smear, a drop of blood is placed onto a pre-cleaned glass slide. Ensure there is an angle of 45° between the slide and the spreader, and place the spreader into the drop of blood, then smear the blood in a swift and steady movement across the slide. The smear needs to air dry before being fixed with absolute methanol. Once dry, the sample is stained with diluted Giemsa (1:20, vol/vol) for 20 minutes and washed by momentarily dipping the slide into a jar of buffered