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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 50(1), 1994, pp. 78-84
Copyright © 1994 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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Studies on the Prevalence of Leishmanin Skin Test Positivity in the Baringo District, Rift Valley, Kenya

Kay-Uwe Schaefer, Jorgen A. L. Kurtzhals, Petrus A. Kager, George S. Gachihi, Marina Gramiccia, Jim Mwaniki Kagai, James A. Sherwood AND Alexander S. Muller
Unit for Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Clinical Research Centre and Biomedical Research Centre, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya; Centre for Medical Parasitology, Department of Infectious Diseases, National University Hospital (Rigshospitalet), Copenhagen, Denmark; Laboratorio di Parassitologia, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy

The leishmanin skin test (LST) was applied in 26 clusters of an average of 97 individuals in Baringo District, Kenya. These clusters were centered around recent cases of visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Of 2,411 individuals tested, 254 (10.5%, 155 males and 99 females) had a positive reaction. Among cured VL patients, the frequency was approximately 30% and no sex difference was observed. In the population as a whole, LST positivity increased with age to a stable level from approximately 15 years of age, reflecting an endemic situation. The level of LST positivity was 25–30% and 10–15% in males and females, respectively. Uninfected household contacts of VL cases had a higher frequency of LST reactivity than the rest of the population. This relationship was significant only in females and children, the prevalence ratio being 2.3 (95% confidence interval 1.3–4.1), 1.9 (1.1–3.5), and 1.4 (0.8–2.5) for females, children, and males, respectively. The frequency of LST positivity was higher individuals living in wood houses than in individuals living in house with mud or stone walls. Again, this difference was significant only in females and children (P = 0.02 and P = 0.04), but not in males (P = 0.7). The results suggest that children and women are exposed to the parasite in or around their houses, whereas adult males are, in addition, exposed elsewhere.




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Copyright © 1994 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.