“…8 At the moment, serology is helpful for visceral forms because antibodies in cutaneous disease tend to be undetectable or present in low titer. For improvement of the specificity of the serodiagnostic tests, a search for defined Leishmania -specific antigens has been undertaken, and various candidates have been proposed; the k39 antigen from Leishmania chagasi and its use in the serodiagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis 9,10 : a membrane antigen of 32 kd (P32) present in L. donovani infantum with a high sensitivity and specificity of 94% in the serodiagnosis of Mediterranean visceral leishmaniasis, 11 two hydrophilic antigens (k9 and k26) of L. chagasi , 12 a secreted acid phosphatase, 13 an A2 antigen, 14 an excreted antigen from the culturing of the parasite in medium free of proteins and serum, 15 two thermal-shock proteins (Hsp 70 and 83), 16 a recombinant proteinase cistein, 17 three recombinant antigens (rH2A, KMP11, and Protein Q 18 ) rk26 and rK39 antigens from Leishmania infantum used in ELISAs provided very high sensitivities for the detection of symptomatic dogs, meanwhile, the rA2 protein from Leishmania donovani is more sensitive for asymptomatic dogs , 19 more recently, an antigen excreted by amastigote forms of L. amazonensis 20 and, an excreted superoxide dismutase by L. infantum useful in diagnosing canine visceral leishmaniasis. 21 The aim of this study was to identify a new antigen excreted (FeSOD) by L.…”