EL ROL DE TRES PRUEBAS DE ELISA CON ANTIGENOS DE PROMASTIGOTES DE LEISHMANIA BRAZILIENSIS, L. AMAZONENSIS Y L. GUYANENSIS EN EL DIAGNÓSTICO DE LEISHMANIASIS TEGUMENTARIA

GIL J; HOYOS C; CIMINO R; KROLEWIECKI A; LOPEZ QUIROGA I; CAJAL SP; JUAREZ M; GARCIA BUSTOS MF; MORA MC; MARCO D; NASSER J

MEDICINA (BUENOS AIRES)

MEDICINA (BUENOS AIRES)

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2011 vol. 71 p. 420 - 428

0025-7680

It is important to know whether the variability of species of Leishmania parasites circulating in a region affects the performance of the ELISA test for the diagnosis of leishmaniasis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the reactivity of the ELISA using homogenates of promastigotes of Leishmania (V.) braziliensis (ELISAb), Leishmania (L) amazonensis (ELISAa) and Leishmania (V.) guyanensis (ELISAg) against different sera groups. Samples from individuals with cutaneous leishmaniasis (n = 37), mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (n = 8), healthy controls (n = 52), persons infected with Trypanosoma cruzi (n = 11) and mixed infections (n = 14) were included in the study. We calculated sensitivities, specificities, cut off, predictive values for the three tests and compared them using ANOVA, kappa index, ROC curves comparison and confidence intervals calculation by bootstrap method. Significant differences were found when comparing the DO levels of sera from patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis against healthy controls, but there were no differences when comparing the different ELISAs. The sensitivities calculated for ELISAb and ELISAa were 84.6 and of 88.5 for ELISAg, while the value of specificity for the three tests was 96.2. The kappa index (0.87) and comparison of ROC curves showed similar performance for the three ELISAs (p = 0.225). The high reactivity obtained for these ELISAs in sera of patients with mucocutaneous leishmaniasis indicates this test as an important complement in the diagnosis of the disease.