Performance of five serological tests in the diagnosis of visceral and cryptic leishmaniasis: a comparative study

Authors

  • Martina Maritati Department of Medical Sciences, Infectious Diseases and Dermatology Section, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
  • Alessandro Trentini Department of Translational Medicine, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3579-7921
  • Gregory Michel Laboratoire de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire l’Archet, INSERM, U1065, C3M, Virulence microbienne et signalisation inflammatoire - Université de la Côte d’Azur, Faculté de Médecine, Centre collaborateur du Centre National de Référence des Leishmanioses, Nice, France
  • Stefania Hanau Section of Medical Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Department of Biomedical and Specialist Surgical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2817-9941
  • Matteo Guarino Department of Translational Medicine, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5841-8555
  • Roberto De Giorgio Department of Translational Medicine, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0867-5873
  • Christelle Pomares Laboratoire de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire l’Archet, INSERM, U1065, C3M, Virulence microbienne et signalisation inflammatoire - Université de la Côte d’Azur, Faculté de Médecine, Centre collaborateur du Centre National de Référence des Leishmanioses, Nice, France
  • Pierre Marty Laboratoire de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire l’Archet, INSERM, U1065, C3M, Virulence microbienne et signalisation inflammatoire - Université de la Côte d’Azur, Faculté de Médecine, Centre collaborateur du Centre National de Référence des Leishmanioses, Nice, France
  • Carlo Contini Department of Medical Sciences, Infectious Diseases and Dermatology Section, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3855/jidc.12622

Keywords:

leishmaniasis, asymptomatic carriers, diagnosis, serology, immunochromatography, Western blot

Abstract

Introduction: Leishmaniasis is a major health problem and its diagnosis still represents a challenge. Since consistent evidence on the comparison of serological methods is lacking, our work aims to compare five serological tests for the diagnosis of visceral and asymptomatic leishmaniasis in southern France, a region where leishmaniasis is endemic.

Methodology: Serum samples from 75 patients living in Nice, France were retrospectively analyzed. They included patients affected by visceral leishmaniasis (VL; n = 25), asymptomatic carriers (AC; n = 25) and negative controls (n = 25). Each sample was tested using two immunochromatographic tests (ICT; IT LEISH® and TruQuick IgG/IgM®), an indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and two Western Blotting (WB; LDBio BIORAD® and an in-house method).

Results: Diagnosis of VL with IFAT and TruQuick® showed the highest diagnostic performance parameters. IFAT had 100% sensitivity and specificity, while TruQuick had 96% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Finally, the two tests showed high accuracy (100% for IFAT and 98% for TruQuick) for the AC group. WB LDBio® was the only method able to detect Leishmania latent infection, with a sensitivity of 92%, and a specificity of 100%, with a Negative Predictive Value (NPV) of 93%. This performance is reflected in the high accuracy of the test.

Conclusions: The data obtained with TruQuick® supports its application in the rapid diagnosis of leishmaniasis in endemic areas, a feature not shown by IFAT despite its high diagnostic performance. Regarding the diagnosis of asymptomatic leishmaniasis, the best results were obtained with WB LDBio®, confirming previous studies.

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Published

2023-05-31

How to Cite

1.
Maritati M, Trentini A, Michel G, Hanau S, Guarino M, De Giorgio R, Pomares C, Marty P, Contini C (2023) Performance of five serological tests in the diagnosis of visceral and cryptic leishmaniasis: a comparative study. J Infect Dev Ctries 17:693–699. doi: 10.3855/jidc.12622

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 05: May 2023

Section

Original Articles

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Copyright (c) 2023 Martina Maritati, Alessandro Trentini, Gregory Michel, Stefania Hanau, Matteo Guarino, Roberto De Giorgio, Christelle Pomares, Pierre Marty, Carlo Contini

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