Based on the results obtained from this study to overcome the problems of venipuncture frozen liquid blood sampling, replacement of a reliable filter paper for preserving finger-prick blood samples is a trustable and useful facilitator particularly in remote malaria-endemic areas.
ELISA AND IFAT have been applied to the sero-diagnosis of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis and the levels of leishmanial antibody detected by Leishmania donovani antigens in both tests have been compared. From the results it appears that ELISA is a little more sensitive than IFAT, but IFAT seems to be more specific in detecting leishmanial antibodies. In both tests reactions between leishmanial antigen and some other infections, such as malaria and typhoid, were observed. These non-specific reactions reduce the validity of both tests, especially ELISA, in the sero-diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis but, in visceral leishmaniasis, the leishmanial antibody levels were high enough to be unaffected by non-specific reactions. In general, ELISA is as good as IFAT and more practical in the sero-diagnosis and mass screening surveys for kala-azar.
A total of 1,779 persons from the Caspian Sea area, Iran, were serologically examined by the indirect fluorescent antibody technique for Toxoplasma antibodies. 55.7% were positive with titres of 1:20 or higher. No significant difference was demonstrated between the sexes. The highest antibody level as well as a high geometric mean of reciprocal titres were observed in the population between the ages of two and 19 years.
In 2001 a visceral leishmaniasis (VL) surveillance system was set up for children aged ≤ 12 years in the primary health system in Meshkin-Shahr district of Ardebil province, northwestern Islamic Republic of Iran. All cases with clinical signs and symptoms of VL and positive by the direct agglutination test were referred for physical examination and treatment. The mean annual incidence of VL decreased significantly from 1.88 before (1985-2000) to 0.77 per 1000 child population after the intervention (2001-07). In a control area with no surveillance, it increased from 0.11 to 0.23 per 1000. Early detection of VL using practical serological tests and timely treatment of cases could decrease the mortality and morbidity rates of VL in endemic areas.
Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis, primarily an infection of desert rodents, is an important endemic disease in some parts of Iran. In spite of reporting Leishmania infection in Nesokia indica microscopically, its role remains unclear in Iran. We report the first natural infection by Leishmania turanica in a wild-caught N. indica in the west part of Iran, near the border with Iraq. The evidence is in the form of PCR-RFLP testing based on internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) rDNA with HaeIII enzyme and ITS1 sequence analysis. This isolate was highly pathogenic in BALB/c mice and golden hamsters and caused lethal systemic infection in the former.
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