ABSTRACT
A pilot study was undertaken to preliminary illustrate the leishmanin skin test (LST) positivity to distinct antigen preparations (derived from promastigote of either Leishmania major or L. amazonensis, or pooled L. mexicana, L. amazonensis and L. guyanensis) in cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) patients and healthy subjects living in two endemic foci in Nigeria. The study was designed to provide insights into whether cross-species leishmanin, such as that prepared from New World Leishmania could be useful to detect cases of Old World leishmanial infection and to compare the results with LST using L. major-derived leishmanin. The overall LST positivity in individuals from Keana tested with the cross-major-derived leishmanin was 28.7 per cent (27/94), while the positivity rate in the subjects from Kanana tested with the same leishmanin was 54.5 per cent (6/11). Lower positivity values were obtained when L. major (12.5 per cent; 11/88) or L. amazonensis (15.8 per cent; 9/57) was tested as antigen in grossly comparable populations. Moreover, the pooled leishmanin identified most of the subjects (13/14; 92.9 per cent) with active or healed CL, and the maximum reaction sizes were found among positive subjects in this group. No healthy controls (10 total) showed specific DTH response. The LST was useful for assessing the prevalence of subclinical infection and for measuring CL transmission over time. We report for the first time the occurrence of CL in Kanana village of Langtang South local government area of Plateau State.