Open AccessField evaluation of latex agglutination test for detecting urinary antigens in visceral leishmaniasis in Sudan
Author(s) -
Sayda El-Safi,
Ahmed Abdelhaleem,
Awad Hammad,
I El-Basha,
Abdeen Mustafa Omer,
Hussein Gad Kareem,
Marleen Boelaert,
Michaël La Chance,
M. Hommel
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
eastern mediterranean health journal/eastern mediterranean health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.442
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1687-1634
pISSN - 1020-3397
DOI - 10.26719/2003.9.4.844
Subject(s) - visceral leishmaniasis , latex fixation test , direct agglutination test , leishmaniasis , medicine , serology , urinary system , antigen , immunology , antibody
A latex agglutination test to detect urinary antigens for visceral leishmaniasis [VL] was studied. In 204 patients with suspected VL, KAtex had a sensitivity of 95.2% with good agreement with microscopy smears but poor agreement with 4 different serology tests. It was also positive in 2 confirmed VL cases co-infected with HIV. In all KAtex-positive confirmed cases actively followed up after treatment, the test became negative 1 month after completion of treatment. While KAtex had a specificity of 100% in healthy endemic and non-endemic controls, the direct agglutination test [DAT] was positive in 14% of the KAtex-negative healthy endemic controls. KAtex is a simple addition to the diagnostics of VL particularly at field level and as a complementary test for the diagnosis of VL in smear-negative cases with positive DAT results