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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, January 2000, p. 175-178, Vol. 38, No. 1
Unidade de Leishmanioses, Centro de
Malária e Outras Doenças Tropicais, Instituto de Higiene e
Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 1349-008 Lisbon,
Portugal
Received 21 December 1998/Returned for modification 29 March
1999/Accepted 19 July 1999
This study evaluated the performance of immunoblotting with
Leishmania infantum soluble antigens for the diagnosis of
visceral leishmaniasis in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected
and immunocompetent patients and assessed the humoral responses of patients coinfected with HIV and Leishmania. In this work,
the results of the immunoblot analysis were compared to those of
parasitological examination (Giemsa-stained smears and/or parasite
isolation in Novy, Nicolle, and MacNeal medium from bone marrow) and
indirect immunofluorescence and counterimmunoelectrophoresis
techniques. Patients were considered to be infected if one or more of
the comparison techniques gave a positive result. Immunoblotting was considered to be positive if at least one band was present. For 198 HIV-positive patients with a clinical suspicion of visceral leishmaniasis, immunoblot analysis had a sensitivity of 70.6%, a
specificity of 73.2%, and an accuracy of 72.7%. For a separate group
of 40 immunocompetent patients not infected with
Leishmania, the immunoblot analysis was negative for all
patients (100% specificity), and for a third group of 32 immunocompetent patients with confirmed visceral leishmaniasis, the
immunoblot analysis was positive for all patients (100% sensitivity).
Sera of coinfected patients recognized few bands and recognized bands
at lower intensities compared with sera from immunocompetent patients.
The most frequently detected band was 63 to 66 kDa (55.9%), with the
difference being statistically significant compared to frequency of
detection of the other bands. This study confirms that the humoral
response in patients coinfected with HIV and Leishmania is
much lower than that in immunocompetent patients and that the
immunoblot method is a sensitive, noninvasive, and specific serological
technique for the diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis in
immunocompromised patients.
0095-1137/0/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Performance of Immunoblotting in Diagnosis of
Visceral Leishmaniasis in Human Immunodeficiency
Virus-Leishmania sp.-Coinfected Patients
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Instituto de
Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Rua da Junqueira, 96, 1349-008 Lisbon,
Portugal. Phone: 351 211 3652600. Fax: 351 211 3632105. E-mail:
santosgomes{at}ihmt.unl.pt.
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