Comparison of polymerase chain reaction with other laboratory methods for the diagnosis of American cutaneous leishmaniasis Diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis by polymerase chain reaction.

• Autor(a) principal: Marques, Marcos José
• Data de Publicação: 2006
• Outros Autores: Volpini, Ângela Cristina, Coelho, George Luiz Lins Machado, Pinto, Jackson Machado, Costa, Carlos Alberto da, Mayrink, Wilson, Genaro, Odair, Romanha, Alvaro José
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFOP
• Texto Completo: http://www.repositorio.ufop.br/handle/123456789/3821; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2005.08.003
• topic: American cutaneous leishmaniasis; Polymerase chain reaction; Diagnosis

An evaluation of 5 laboratory methods for diagnosing American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) was carried out on patients from an endemic area of Brazil. From 164 patients presenting cutaneous lesions, and suspected to have ACL, 133 (81.1%) were confirmed for the disease by Montenegro skin test (MST) and/or parasitologic examination (PE). In both groups of patients, the positivity of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was similar to that of immunofluorescence assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and higher than that of MST and PE ( P b .05). In the group of patients suspected to have ACL, PCR presented the same positivity as PE and MST together. No correlation between positivity of the laboratory methods and clinical or epidemiologic aspects was observed. Our data confirmed the value of PCR as an alternative laboratory method for diagnosing ACL, especially for those patients with negative PE and MST.