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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 80(4), 2009, pp. 566-567
Copyright © 2009 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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SHORT REPORT


Evaluation of Leishmanin Skin Test in Indian Visceral Leishmaniasis

Kamlesh Gidwani, Madhukar Rai, Jaya Chakravarty, Marleen Boelaert, AND Shyam Sundar*
Department of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India; Department of Public Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium

 

ABSTRACT

We evaluated the performance of the leishmanin skin test (LST) in 50 patients with visceral leishmaniasis (VL), 124 cured VL patients at different time intervals, 125 healthy controls from an endemic region (HEC), and 14 healthy controls from a non-endemic region (NEHC). The leishmanin antigen used was based on Leishmania major and was obtained from the Pasteur Institute (Iran). A positive LST was found in 14.0% of patients with active VL, 40.3% of cured patients, 21.6% of HECs, and 0% in NEHCs. The 14% positivity in patients with active VL conflicts with the widely held opinion that such patients should be negative because of anergy. Also, a lack of sensitivity of the LST was observed in cured VL patients. An LST antigen produced from L. donovani strains from India should be explored.

Received June 12, 2008. Accepted for publication November 11, 2008.

Financial support: This project was supported by a grant from the DG Research of the European Commission (Contract INCO–CT-2005-015374, Kalanet) and the Kala-azar Medical Research Center, Sitaram Memorial Trust, Muzaffarpur, India.

* Address correspondence to Shyam Sundar, Department of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU, Varanasi 221 005, India. E-mail: drshyamsundar{at}hotmail.com

Authors’ addresses: Kamlesh Gidwani, Department of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India. Madhukar Rai, Department of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India. Jaya Chakravarty, Department of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India. Marleen Boelaert, Department of Public Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. Shyam Sundar, Department of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India.






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Copyright © 2009 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.