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Leishmaniasis is a significant public health concern, with dogs as the primary reservoir in urban scenarios and facilitating transmission. Diagnosing infected dogs is a crucial step for public health interventions, and the development of new diagnostic platforms can significantly enhance efforts in various regions worldwide. Given the limited availability of diagnostic methods in Colombia, this study evaluates the effectiveness of an Indirect Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) based on the recombinant protein rLicNTPDase-2 to detect Leishmania in infected dogs. Serum samples were collected from dogs in both endemic and non-endemic areas and classified as natural standards based on prior parasitological diagnoses. The results revealed 24 true positives (TP) and 9 true negatives (TN). Subsequently, the test was then validated with samples from symptomatic and asymptomatic animals, alongside the standards, yielding a specificity of 96 %, a sensitivity of 81 %, efficiency of 90.6 %, a positive predictive value of 92.8 %, and a negative predictive value of 89.6 %. The positive likelihood ratio (RV+) was 20, while the negative likelihood ratio (RV-) was 0.19, indicating high relevance and a robust clinical utility. The area under the curve (AUC) was 1.00, suggesting that the test has excellent discriminatory ability, significantly deviating from the reference diagonal. This is further supported by the significant difference(p < 0.0001) between TN and TP results determined by Fisher's exact test. Involving 163 animals showed 47 % positive and 46 % negative results with a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the mean optical density (OD) values between positive and negative samples. These findings indicate that the ELISA test effectively differentiates between positive and negative samples based on OD values. This study suggests that ELISA based on the recombinant antigen rLicNTPDase-2 could serve as a viable alternative for the serodiagnosis of leishmaniasis in canines in Colombia., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest There are no competing interests that may influence the results of this study., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To determine the cost-effectiveness ratio of different courses of action for the diagnosis of Duchenne or Becker muscular dystrophy in Colombia., Methods: The cost-effectiveness analysis was performed from the Colombian health system perspective. Decision trees were constructed, and different courses of action were compared considering the following tests: immunohistochemistry (IHC), Western blot (WB), multiplex polymerase chain reaction, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), and the complete sequencing of the dystrophin gene. The time horizon matched the duration of sample extraction and analysis. Transition probabilities were obtained from a systematic review. Costs were constructed with a type-case methodology using the consensus of experts and the valuation of resources from consulting laboratories and the 2001 Social Security Institute cost manual. Deterministic sensitivity and scenario analyses were performed with one or more unavailable alternatives. Costs were converted from Colombian pesos to US dollars using the 2014 exchange rate., Results: In the base case, WB was the dominant strategy, with a cost of US $419.07 and a sensitivity of 100%. This approach remains the dominant strategy down to a 98.2% sensitivity and while costs do not exceed US $837.38. If WB was not available, IHC had the best cost-effectiveness ratio, followed by MLPA and sequencing., Conclusions: WB is a cost-effective alternative for the diagnosis of patients suspected of having Duchenne or Becker muscular dystrophy in the Colombian health system. The IHC test is rated as the second-best detection method. If these tests are not available, MLPA followed by sequencing would be the most cost-effective alternative., (Copyright © 2018 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)