Clinical Utility of Polymerase Chain Reaction--Based Detection of Leishmania in the Diagnosis of American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

• DOI: 10.1086/379610
• Publication Date: 2003-11-17T14:59:51Z
• Authors: C. I. de Oliveira; A. Bafica; F. Oliveira; C. B. F. Favali; T. Correa; L. A. R. Freitas; E. Nascimento; J. M. Costa; A. Barral
• Keywords: Adult; Aged, 80 and over; Male; Adolescent; Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous; DNA, Protozoan; Middle Aged; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sensitivity and Specificity; Leishmania braziliensis; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Child, Preschool; Animals; Humans; Female; Child; Aged; DNA Primers

We evaluated the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for diagnosis of American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) in an area in Bahia, Brazil, where Leishmania braziliensis is endemic. Leishmania DNA was detected in 50 cases, yielding a positivity rate of 100%, which was higher than the rates for all of the other diagnostic methods studied--namely, the Montenegro skin test, anti-Leishmania serological testing, and microscopic examination of lesion biopsy specimens. These findings have led us to propose guidelines for the diagnosis of ACL that use PCR as the principal means of parasitological confirmation of cases.