title: Serodiagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Syrian Arab Republic.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the validity of western blot (WB) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that use antigens from culture promastigote from Leishmania parasites, for laboratory diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Syria.
  
  
  METHODS
  We utilized 290 serum samples from endemic areas (patients group) and other regions (control samples) in Syria during 2002-2005 and the serological testing was brought to the applied the serological tests at the Department of Animal Biology, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Anti-Leishmania antibody was detected in 250 (92.5%) cases using the ELISA and 254 (94%) cases using the WB. It is also noted that this response can change according to the number of lesions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results of this study showed that there was no significant difference between ELISA and WB, which are easy to perform. Thus, they can be used for diagnosing the cutaneous leishmaniasis in Syria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Damascus University, PO Box 10718. Damascus, Syria. samarnahas@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Samar A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Al-Nahhas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002648:Child; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012698:Serologic Tests; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013593:Syria / Q000453:epidemiology