Laboratory of Clinical Research, Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Av. Augusto de Lima 1715, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais 30190-002, Brazil.
Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2009 Dec;103(12):1269-72. doi: 10.1016/j.trstmh.2008.07.013. Epub 2008 Sep 5.
The performance of PCR to detect Leishmania kDNA in serum for the diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) was assessed in serum samples from 65 patients with VL, 17 non-infected individuals and 17 patients with other febrile hepatosplenic diseases. Serum PCR showed a sensitivity of 85%, specificity of 100% and efficiency of 90%. The sensitivity values obtained for blood PCR (97%) and rK39 ELISA (95%) were significantly higher (P=0.01) than the values observed for L. chagasi ELISA (88%) and serum PCR (85%), whilst no difference was observed among the specificity rates obtained with rK39 ELISA (94%; P=0.47) and L. chagasi ELISA (85%; P=0.06). This work suggests that the use of serum samples may be an alternative for the diagnosis of VL when peripheral blood samples are not available or require significant operational efforts.
检测血清中利什曼原虫 kDNA 对内脏利什曼病（VL）诊断的 PCR 性能，在 65 例 VL 患者、17 例未感染个体和 17 例其他发热性肝脾疾病患者的血清样本中进行了评估。血清 PCR 的灵敏度为 85%，特异性为 100%，效率为 90%。血液 PCR（97%）和 rK39 ELISA（95%）获得的灵敏度值明显高于 L. chagasi ELISA（88%）和血清 PCR（85%）（P=0.01），而 rK39 ELISA（94%；P=0.47）和 L. chagasi ELISA（85%；P=0.06）获得的特异性率之间无差异。这项工作表明，当无法获得或需要大量操作努力获得外周血样本时，使用血清样本可能是诊断 VL 的一种替代方法。
