title: Detection of Leishmania in the blood of early kala-azar patients with the aid of the polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: Samples from 39 patients with symptoms suggestive of early visceral leishmaniasis were independently assayed by microscopy of tissue smears, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of blood deoxyribonucleic acid. Of these patients, 19 were confirmed as positive or negative by all 3 tests; 11 patients (28%) negative by smear were positive by ELISA and PCR; and 7 (18%) were positive by PCR alone. These results demonstrate the high sensitivity of the non-invasive PCR and, to a smaller extent, ELISA, in the early diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis.
authors.affiliation: Genetic Engineering Laboratory (Leishmania Group), Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Calcutta, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adhya
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
authors.forename: M Q
authors.initials: MQ
authors.lastname: Hassan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001706:Biopsy; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D007893:Leishmania donovani / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000097:blood*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan