Serodiagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Syrian Arab Republic

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. 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. 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. 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

Assessment of the direct agglutination test, fast agglutination screening test, and rK [39] dipstick test for the sero-diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis in Syria

To evaluate the performances of 3 serological assays [direct agglutination test [DAT], fast agglutination screening test [FAST], recombinant protein [rK39] dipstick] test for use in primary care, for the diagnosis visceral leishmaniasis [VL] in Syria. We utilized 267 serum samples obtained during 2007 from patient groups confirmed and suspected VL, confirmed cutaneous leishmaniasis, toxoplasmosis from endemic areas in Syria and control samples, and applied the 3 serological tests in the Damascus University, Damascus and Health laboratories at the same time, on these samples. Our data show that the tests were very sensitive, where the DAT was the most specific followed by FAST, then rK39 dipstick. Our study confirmed that all the tests performed well, and proved to be very important sero-diagnosis tools for visceral leishmaniasis