leishmaniasis

Selected abstracts:

1.                  Chappuis F, Rijal S, Soto A, Menten J, Boelaert M. A meta-analysis of the diagnostic performance of the direct agglutination test and rK39 dipstick for visceral leishmaniasis. BMJ. 2006 Oct 7;333(7571):723.

Geneva University Hospitals, Travel and Migration Medicine Unit, rue Micheli-du-Crest 24, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland. francois.chappuis@hcuge.ch

OBJECTIVE: To compare the performance of the direct agglutination test and rK39 dipstick for the diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis. DATA SOURCES: Medline, citation tracking, January 1986 to December 2004. Selection criteria Original studies evaluating the direct agglutination test or the rK39 dipstick with clinical visceral leishmaniasis as target condition; adequate reference classification; and absolute numbers of true positive, true negative, false positive, and false negative observations available or derivable from the data presented. RESULTS: 30 studies evaluating the direct agglutination test and 13 studies evaluating the rK39 dipstick met the inclusion criteria. The combined sensitivity estimates of the direct agglutination test and the rK39 dipstick were 94.8% (95% confidence interval 92.7% to 96.4%) and 93.9% (87.7% to 97.1%), respectively. Sensitivity seemed higher and more homogenous in the studies carried out in South Asia. Specificity estimates were influenced by the type of controls. In phase III studies carried out on patients with clinically suspected disease, the estimated specificity of the direct agglutination test was 85.9% (72.3% to 93.4%) and of the rK39 dipstick was 90.6% (66.8% to 97.9%). CONCLUSION: The diagnostic performance of the direct agglutination test and the rK39 dipstick for visceral leishmaniasis is good to excellent and seem comparable.

2.                  Volpini AC, Marques MJ, Lopes dos Santos S, Machado-Coelho GL, Mayrink W, Romanha AJ.  Leishmania identification by PCR of Giemsa-stained lesion imprint slides stored for up to 36 years. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2006 Aug;12(8):815-8.  Laboratorio de Pesquisas em Leishmanioses, Departamento de Imunologia, IOC-FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. avolpini@ioc.fiocruz.b
This study examined the ability of PCR to amplify Leishmania DNA, stored on Giemsa-stained slides, from American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) patients. In total, 475 slides stored for up to 36 years were obtained from an outpatient clinic in a Brazilian ACL-endemic region, and Leishmania DNA was amplified from 395 (83.2%) of the DNA samples using primers specific for the minicircle kinetoplast DNA. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of these amplicons demonstrated that Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis was the only species present in these samples. The results demonstrated that archived Giemsa-stained slides can provide a Leishmania DNA source for performing clinical and epidemiological studies of leishmaniasis.

Diagnosis, Diagnostics, Immunodiagnosis, Immunodiagnostics:

15039.  Abass EM, Mansour D, el Mutasim M, Hussein M, el Harith A. Beta- mercaptoethanol-modified ELISA for diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis. J Med Microbiol. 2006 Sep;55(Pt 9):1193-6.  

15040.  Carmelo E, Zurita AI, Martinez E, Valladares B. The sera from individuals suffering from cutaneous leishmaniasis due to Leishmania brazilensis present antibodies against parasitic conserved proteins, but not their human counterparts. Parasite. 2006 Sep;13(3):231-6. 

15041.  Goto Y, Coler RN, Guderian J, Mohamath R, Reed SG. Cloning, characterization, and serodiagnostic evaluation of Leishmania infantum tandem repeat proteins. Infect Immun. 2006 Jul;74(7):3939-45. 

Therapy: 

15042.  Bern C, Adler-Moore J, Berenguer J, Boelaert M, den Boer M, Davidson RN, Figueras C, Gradoni L, Kafetzis DA, Ritmeijer K, Rosenthal E, Royce C, Russo R, Sundar S, Alvar J. Liposomal amphotericin B for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis. Clin Infect Dis. 2006 Oct 1;43(7):917-24. 

15043.  Cardo LJ.  Leishmania: risk to the blood supply. Transfusion. 2006 Sep;46(9):1641-5. Review. 

15044.  Daoud S, Boushi L.  Azithromycin, ineffective in the treatment of old-world cutaneous leishmaniasis. Int J Dermatol. 2006 Sep;45(9):1126-8.

15045.  Lobo IM, Soares MB, Correia TM, de Freitas LA, Oliveira MI, Nakatani M, Netto E, Badaro R, David JR. Heat therapy for cutaneous leishmaniasis elicits a systemic cytokine response similar to that of antimonial (Glucantime) therapy. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2006 Jul;100(7):642-9.

15046.  Ozsoylu S.  Treatment of visceral leishmaniasis. Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2006 Jul-Aug;23(5):449-51; author reply 455-7. 

15047.  Sundar S, Kumar K, Chakravarty J, Agrawal D, Agrawal S, Chhabra A, Singh V.  Cure of antimony-unresponsive Indian post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis with oral miltefosine. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2006 Jul;100(7):698-700.

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