Schüffner's dots

Schüffner's dots refers to a hematological finding that is associated with malaria, specifically Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium vivax.

Plasmodium vivax induces morphologic alterations in infected host erythrocytes that are visible by light microscopy in Romanovsky-stained blood smears as multiple brick-red dots. These morphologic changes, referred to as Schüffner's dots, are important in the identification of this species of malarial parasite and have been associated by electron microscopy with caveolavesicle complexes along the erythrocyte plasmalemma.

They are named for Wilhelm Schüffner, who described them in 1904.