Evaluation of a point-of-care molecular detection device for Leishmania spp. and intercurrent fungal and mycobacterial organisms in Peruvian patients with cutaneous ulcers

Overlapping clinical features of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) with ulcers caused by fungi and mycobacteria necessitate confirmatory diagnostic testing. We evaluated a handheld battery-operated device for detection of CL and common fungal and mycobacterial causes of ulcers.We validated Palm PCR™ for detection of common ulcerative skin pathogens using ATCCPalm PCR™ detected 100% of ATCCPalm PCR™ performs comparably to conventional PCR for detection of Leishmania, fungi, and mycobacteria. This work has implications for the diagnostic approach to tropical ulcers, and has the potential to improve field detection of ulcerative pathogens in resource constrained areas.