Ashford D A, Bozza M, Freire M, Miranda J C, Sherlock I, Eulalio C, Lopes U, Fernandes O, Degrave W, Barker R H
Department of Tropical Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1995 Sep;53(3):251-5. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1995.53.251.
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and serology was evaluated for the diagnosis of canine visceral leishmaniasis in Bahia, Brazil in a study of 125 dogs. The PCR was 100% sensitive in 25 dogs that had Leishmania demonstrated by either culture or hamster inoculation. It was 100% specific for 35 dogs from the northeastern United States, all were PCR negative. However, 22 of 54 Brazilian dogs that were culture-hamster inoculation-negative were positive by PCR. The nature of the PCR product was identified by hybridization with specific Leishmania probes. Whereas the sensitivity of serology in relationship to infection, as determined by hamster or culture assay was more than 80%, sensitivity of serology was only 63% when compared with PCR. These results raise questions about the use of serology to detect Leishmania infection in dogs, and suggest that the PCR might serve as a better gold standard to define Leishmania infection than culture or hamster inoculation.
在巴西巴伊亚州对125只犬进行的一项研究中，评估了聚合酶链反应（PCR）和血清学用于诊断犬内脏利什曼病的情况。在通过培养或仓鼠接种证明感染利什曼原虫的25只犬中，PCR的敏感性为100%。对于来自美国东北部的35只犬，PCR的特异性为100%，所有犬的PCR检测均为阴性。然而，在54只经培养和仓鼠接种检测为阴性的巴西犬中，有22只PCR检测呈阳性。通过与特异性利什曼原虫探针杂交鉴定了PCR产物的性质。通过仓鼠或培养试验确定，血清学相对于感染的敏感性超过80%，但与PCR相比，血清学的敏感性仅为63%。这些结果引发了关于使用血清学检测犬利什曼原虫感染的疑问，并表明与培养或仓鼠接种相比，PCR可能是定义利什曼原虫感染的更好的金标准。
