Diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis: the sensitivities and specificities of traditional methods and a nested PCR assay.

摘要: AbstractIn the present study, 67 patients suspected to be cases of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) were each checked for leishmanial infection by microscopical evaluation various biological specimens, in-vitro culture, serology and an assay based on nested PCR. Most (35) subjects immunocompetent (IC) but 32 immunodeficient (ID) as result HIV (18 cases), treatment prevent transplanted organs being rejected (six) or haematological malignancies (eight). Forty-one (61.2%) (19 IC subjects, 12 HIV-positive patients, four transplant six with malignancies) considered true VL. For only production examination leucocytoconcentrates cultures Buffy coats gave sensitivities <80%, results other methods showing higher almost perfect agreement 'gold-standard' diagnoses. ID however, serological tests PCR ...