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KAtex
antigen-detection test as a diagnostic tool for latent
visceral leishmaniasis cases
AbdolSamad
Mazloumi Gavgani1*, Shahram KhademVatan1
and Ardavan Ghazanchaei2
1Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Drug
applied research center, Tabriz University of Medical
Sciences, Iran.
2Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine,
Infection and Tropical Diseases, research Center, Tabriz
University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
mazloumi75@yahoo.com.
Accepted 14 February, 2008 |
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Kala-azar is an infectious disease that mostly affects
children under 5 years old, and, in untreated cases, is
fatal. There are several routine serological tests employed
to diagnose the disease, but these tests have disadvantages.
Parasitological diagnosis tools are accurate but invasive,
while molecular tools are expensive and not commonly used.
We report that the newly developed kAtex test is a rapid,
non invasive and simple tool for the detection of visceral
leishmaniasis (VL), capable of detecting and distinguishing
between recovered, subclinical and latent cases. The study
was carried out in endemic areas of Kalibar and Ahar
districts, East Azerbaijan province, Northwest Iran. Urine
and Sera samples were collected from 313 children under age
5 years old from the endemic area. Additionally, sera and
urine of 18 confirmed VL patients were studied. Urine
samples were tested by kAtex kit to detect VL antigen. All
sera samples were also tested by other serological tests
such as DAT, IFA, and
ELISA
(IgG and IgM). kAtex tests were positive for 10 out of 313
examined urine samples of children and 2 positive samples
for ELISA-IgM, but were negative all for other serological
tests. During clinical follow up of the kAtex positive
individuals, three of them developed VL disease, with DAT
titers for these individuals reaching 1/3200. The results
show that kAtex is an effective screening test for latent
infection of VL. The test discriminates between active
disease, sub clinical and latent infections. Its results can
complement DAT for the diagnosis of unconfirmed visceral
leishmaniasis cases.
Key words:
KAtex, visceral leishmaniasis, diagnosis, Iran. |
