ArticleBMC infectious diseases2013
Evaluation of PCR procedures for detecting and quantifying Leishmania donovani DNA in large numbers of dried human blood samples from a visceral leishmaniasis focus in Northern Ethiopia.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
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39 citing papers in PubMed, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Longitudinal evaluation of asymptomatic Leishmania infection in HIV-infected individuals in North-West Ethiopia: A pilot study.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2019Trial
- Evidence Gaps and Global Patterns in Leishmaniasis Control: A Scoping Review of Clinical, Diagnostic, and Treatment Strategies.Journal of parasitology research · 2026Review
- Prevalence of Leishmania infection in refugee camps: A serological and molecular study in Gambella and Benishangul-Gumuz, Ethiopia.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Vertical transmission of Leishmania donovani with placental degeneration in the pregnant mouse model of visceral leishmaniasis.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- India should invest in the expansion of genomic epidemiology for vector-borne diseases filariasis, malaria and visceral leishmaniasis that are targeted for elimination.IJID regions · 2024Review
- Demographic characteristics and prevalence of asymptomaticFrontiers in epidemiology · 2024Article
- Dried Blood Spots (DBS): A suitable alternative to using whole blood samples for diagnostic testing of visceral leishmaniasis in the post-elimination era.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
- Burden of neglected tropical diseases and access to medicine and diagnostics in Ethiopia: a scoping review.Systematic reviews · 2023Article
- Large scale systemic control short-circuits pathogen transmission by interrupting the sand rat (Psammomys obesus)-to-sand fly (Phlebotomus papatasi) Leishmania major transmission cycle.Medical and veterinary entomology · 2023Article
- Detection of Leishmania donovani using ITS1-RFLP from positive and negative smear samples among clinically reported patients visiting University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital.BMC infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Following successful anti-leishmanial treatment, neutrophil counts, CD10 expression and phagocytic capacity remain reduced in visceral leishmaniasis patients co-infected with HIV.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Article
- Quantitative monitoring of experimental and human leishmaniasis employing amastigote-specific genes.Parasitology · 2022Article
- Diagnosis of Visceral Leishmaniasis in an Elimination Setting: A Validation Study of the Diagnostic Algorithm in India.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Molecular Tracking of theFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Review
- Visceral leishmaniasis: a practical strategy for quantitative molecular diagnosis in naturally infected dogs.Parasitology research · 2020Article
- Ecology and seasonality of sandflies and potential reservoirs of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Ochollo, a hotspot in southern Ethiopia.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2019Article
- Evaluation of methods for detection of asymptomatic individuals infected with Leishmania infantum in the state of Piauí, Brazil.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2019Article
- Molecular Diagnosis of Visceral Leishmaniasis.Molecular diagnosis & therapy · 2018Review
- Leishmaniasis in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence in animals and humans.Heliyon · 2018Article
- A fine scale eco-epidemiological study on endemic visceral leishmaniasis in north ethiopian villages.Acta tropica · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundVisceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a disseminated protozoan infection caused by Leishmania donovani parasites which affects almost half a million persons annually. Most of these are from the Indian sub-continent, East Africa and Brazil. Our study was designed to elucidate the role of symptomatic and asymptomatic Leishmania donovani infected persons in the epidemiology of VL in Northern Ethiopia.
methodsThe efficacy of quantitative real-time kinetoplast DNA/PCR (qRT-kDNA PCR) for detecting Leishmania donovani in dried-blood samples was assessed in volunteers living in an endemic focus.
resultsOf 4,757 samples, 680 (14.3%) were found positive for Leishmania k-DNA but most of those (69%) had less than 10 parasites/ml of blood. Samples were re-tested using identical protocols and only 59.3% of the samples with 10 parasite/ml or less were qRT-kDNA PCR positive the second time. Furthermore, 10.8% of the PCR negative samples were positive in the second test. Most samples with higher parasitemias remained positive upon re-examination (55/59 =93%). We also compared three different methods for DNA preparation. Phenol-chloroform was more efficient than sodium hydroxide or potassium acetate. DNA sequencing of ITS1 PCR products showed that 20/22 samples were Leishmania donovani while two had ITS1 sequences homologous to Leishmania major.
conclusionsAlthough qRT-kDNA PCR is a highly sensitive test, the dependability of low positives remains questionable. It is crucial to correlate between PCR parasitemia and infectivity to sand flies. While optimal sensitivity is achieved by targeting k-DNA, it is important to validate the causative species of VL by DNA sequencing.
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