LEISHMANIA DONOVANI AND WUCHERERIA BANCROFTI CO-INFECTION IN AN ASYMPTOMATIC POPULATION OF VISCERAL LEISHMANIASIS

Co-infection with Leishmaniasis and filariasis can occur in an endemic population. The immunological modulation triggered by filaria infection could influence the clinical manifestations and progression of both disorders. The aims of the study were to assess the prevalence of filarial infection in asymptomatic Leishmania donovani infected individuals and their correlation of filarial co- infection with progression to Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) illness. TaqMan-based quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays were used to detect filarial species, Wuchereria banchrofti and Leishmanial species, L. donovani in 1265 individuals of serologically positive [serologically negative in 1st serosurvey (DAT 14PP with an increase of at least 2 titres in DAT and 3 PP in ELISA from the 1st Serosurvey)] and serologicaly negative [serologically negative (both DAT (titre