Evaluation of a direct PCR in comparison with routine microscopy and In vitro culture for diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis.

B Fouladi; Iraj Sharifi; Seyyed Mohammad   Hashemi Shahri; HR Moradgholi; A Sarabandi; Adel  Ebrahimzadeh; A Fazaeli

Zahedan Journal of Research in Medical Sciences

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Evaluation of a direct PCR in comparison with routine microscopy and In vitro culture for diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Author(s):

B Fouladi¹,

Iraj Sharifi²,

Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi Shahri³,

HR Moradgholi⁴,

A Sarabandi⁵,

Adel Ebrahimzadeh³,

A Fazaeli^3,*

1Dept of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Zabol University of Medical Sciences and Health Services Zabol, Iran.

2Kerman Research Center for Leishmaniasis, Kerman University of Medical Sciences and Health Services Kerman, Iran

3Zahedan Research Center for Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services Zahedan, Iran.

4Zahedan Center for Health Services

5Zahedan Islamic Azad University

Zahedan Journal of Research in Medical Sciences:Vol. 9, issue 3; e94788

Published online:Aug 25, 2007

Article type:Research Article

Received:Jun 17, 2007

Accepted:Jul 26, 2007

How to Cite:B FouladiIraj SharifiSeyyed Mohammad Hashemi ShahriHR MoradgholiA SarabandiAdel EbrahimzadehA Fazaeliet al.Evaluation of a direct PCR in comparison with routine microscopy and In vitro culture for diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis..Zahedan J Res Med Sci.9(3):e94788.

Abstract

Background: Cutaneous leishmainasis (CL) is highly prevalent in several provinces of Iran,
having increased during the recent decades. The diagnosis of CL in most of clinical laboratories is
usually performed using routine microscopy. However, this method is not sensitive enough, and the
assessment and utilization of other methods, including a variety of PCR techniques, have been taken
to consideration. In the present study, a direct PCR, based on kDNA primers, in comparison with
the microscopic examination and in vitro NNN culture was evaluated for the detection of CL.
Materials & Methods: The scrapings were taken from 73 patients from Mirjaveh, Sistan &
Baluchestan province, and subjected to the comparative diagnoses.
Results: The results showed that 38.4%, 55.5% and 63.2% of the specimens were positive by
microscopy, PCR and NNN culture, respectively. The parasite species were also characterized by
the current PCR. Separate comparisons of both microscopy and PCR methods with NNN culture,
showed that the sensitivity of the PCR (76%) is higher than that of microscopy (61%). The
calculated specificity, however, was 100% for microscopy and 73% for PCR.
Conclusion: In addition to the higher sensitivity, this particular PCR, which uses species-specific
primers, has a major advantage of identification of Leishmania species at the same time. It is,
therefore, concluded that this PCR technique can be a suitable complement to the routine
microscopic examination for diagnosis and identification of the parasite species from suspected
leishmaniasis.

Keywords

Cutaneous leishmaniasis

PCR

Detection

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References

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