A new PCR–ELISA for diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis in blood of HIV-negative subjects

The PCR–ELISA represents a promising advance for diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in blood samples. However, the method has been validated mostly with HIV-positive patients who are known to have high levels of parasitaemia. We developed a new PCR–ELISA assay for specific detection of Leishma...

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Veröffentlicht in:Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2005, Vol.99 (1), p.25-31
Hauptverfasser: De Doncker, Simonne, Hutse, Veronik, Abdellati, Saïd, Rijal, Suman, Singh Karki, Bal Man, Decuypere, Saskia, Jacquet, Diane, Le Ray, Dominique, Boelaert, Marleen, Koirala, Shekhar, Dujardin, Jean-Claude
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:The PCR–ELISA represents a promising advance for diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in blood samples. However, the method has been validated mostly with HIV-positive patients who are known to have high levels of parasitaemia. We developed a new PCR–ELISA assay for specific detection of Leishmania in patients’ blood and validated it in Nepalese subjects with clinically suspected VL, almost all of whom were HIV-negative. For blood samples, PCR–ELISA was more sensitive (83.9%) than conventional PCR (73.2%), and demonstrated 100% and 87.2% specificity when using healthy controls who had never travelled to a VL-endemic area and controls from a VL-endemic area as references, respectively. We have demonstrated the ability of PCR–ELISA to detect parasites in blood of HIV-negative patients. The method could be used for epidemiological as well as clinical purposes, as it reduces the need for traumatic bone marrow sampling and risky spleen aspiration.
ISSN:0035-9203
1878-3503
DOI:10.1016/j.trstmh.2004.01.015