1. Comparison of Three Methods for Diagnosis of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.
- Author
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Pourmohammadi, B., Motazedian, M. H., Hatam, G. R., Kalantari, M., Habibi, P., and Sarkari, B.
- Subjects
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CUTANEOUS leishmaniasis , *PREVENTIVE medicine , *MICROSCOPY , *POLYMERASE chain reaction , *DIAGNOSIS - Abstract
Background: Leishmaniasis is one of the infectious parasitic diseases of highest incidence in the world. Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) has long been reported in Shiraz, Southern Iran. There is a need to find a sensitive and specific method for treatment and control of the disease. Methods: We have compared the sensitivity of the conventional methods microscopy and cultivation of lesion scrapes against PCR amplification of parasite kinetoplast DNA from these samples. The samples (n=219) were obtained from the patients clinically suspected of CL. The smears were stained with Giemsa for microscopy and cultured in Novy-Nicolle-McNeal (NNN) blood agar for promastigote growth. For PCR, the dry smears were scraped off the slides and DNA was extracted. Results: The positive rates from 219 specimens were 76.71%, 50.68%, and 93.61% for microscopy, cultivation, and PCR, respectively. The highest correlation was found between PCR and microscopy method (P= 0.014). In PCR assay, 95.61%, 3.9%, and 0.49% of the samples were identified as Leishmania major, L. tropica, and dermatropic L. infantum, respectively. Conclusion: The PCR method appears to be the most sensitive for the diagnosis of CL and is valuable for identifying the other species of Leishmania with confusing dermatropic signs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010