Evaluation of a direct agglutination test and methylene blue test in diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis

The usefulness and sensitivity of a direct agglutination test [DAT] in the diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis infection has been investigated. Trypsin treated, formalin fixed and coomassie blue stained Leishmania promastigotes were used as antigens: L. infantum, L. donovani, L. aethiopica. Although the titers of sera from patients with localized cutaneous leishmaniasis were low, sera from lepromatous, tuberculous and toxoplasmic patients gave high titers indicating cross reactivity. Comparable results were obtained when the same sera were tested using freshly prepared antigen or antigens stored for 5 months at 4C, and with addition of 0.78% 2-meracaptoethanol to the diluents

Investigation of sarcocystis as a causative agent in cardiac disease

Sera from 56 cases with cardiomyopathy and myocarditis and 40 cases with different types of valvular diseases were tested, using the indirect fluorescent antibody test [IFAT] for the detection of antibodies to Sarcocystis. None of the cases showed specific reaction where the IFAT was negative at the cut off titer 1: 8 in all cases

Preliminary study of false positive IFAT for hydatidosis in malignancy

False positivity for hydatidosis was studied in 146 patients with malignancy using IFAT. Twenty non hydatid patients and 20 positive sera by IHAT were used as negative and positive controls respectively. A simple procedure was devised for preparation of scolices antigen from camel fresh hydatid cyst with 1% formalin as fixative for 30 minutes. False positivity was 39.04%. The possible reasons for the false positivity were discussed and C-reactive protein was investigated