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<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study describes the laboratory evaluation of a novel diagnostic platform for malaria. The Magneto Optical Test (MOT) is based on the bio-physical detection of haemozoin in clinical samples. Having an assay time of around one minute, it offers the potential of high throughput screening.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Blood samples of confirmed malaria patients from different regions of Africa, patients with other diseases and healthy non-endemic controls were used in the present study. The samples were analysed with two reference tests, i.e. an histidine rich protein-2 based rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and a conventional Pan-<it>Plasmodium </it>PCR, and the MOT as index test. Data were entered in 2 × 2 tables and analysed for sensitivity and specificity. The agreement between microscopy, RDT and PCR and the MOT assay was determined by calculating Kappa values with a 95% confidence interval.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The observed sensitivity/specificity of the MOT test in comparison with clinical description, RDT or PCR ranged from 77.2 - 78.8% (sensitivity) and from 72.5 - 74.6% (specificity). In general, the agreement between MOT and the other assays is around 0.5 indicating a moderate agreement between the reference and the index test. However, when RDT and PCR are compared to each other, an almost perfect agreement can be observed (k = 0.97) with a sensitivity and specificity of >95%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although MOT sensitivity and specificity are currently not yet at a competing level compared to other diagnostic test, such as PCR and RDTs, it has a potential to rapidly screen patients for malaria in endemic as well as non-endemic countries.</p>