Immunochromatographic rK39 strip test in the serodiagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis in Tunisia

Saghrouni, F.; Gaïed-Meksi, S.; Fathallah, A.; Amri, F.; Ach, H.; Guizani, I.; Saïd, M. Ben

doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2008.10.034

« Previous Next »Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Volume 103, Issue 12 , Pages 1273-1278, December 2009

Immunochromatographic rK39 strip test in the serodiagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis in Tunisia

F. Saghrouni
- Laboratoire de Parasitologie, Hôpital Farhat Hached, Sousse, Tunisia
S. Gaïed-Meksi
- Laboratoire de Parasitologie, Hôpital Farhat Hached, Sousse, Tunisia
A. Fathallah
- Laboratoire de Parasitologie, Hôpital Farhat Hached, Sousse, Tunisia
- Laboratoire d’Epidémiologie et d’Ecologie parasitaire, LR00SP04 - Research Programme on Applied Genomics and Biotechnologies to Parasitic Diseases, Institut Pasteur, Tunis, Tunisia
F. Amri
- Service de Pédiatrie, Hôpital Ibn El Jazzar, Kairouan, Tunisia
H. Ach
- Laboratoire de Parasitologie, Hôpital Farhat Hached, Sousse, Tunisia
I. Guizani
- Laboratoire d’Epidémiologie et d’Ecologie parasitaire, LR00SP04 - Research Programme on Applied Genomics and Biotechnologies to Parasitic Diseases, Institut Pasteur, Tunis, Tunisia
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +216 71 844 171; fax: +216 71 791 833.
M. Ben Saïd
- Laboratoire de Parasitologie, Hôpital Farhat Hached, Sousse, Tunisia

Received 9 June 2008; received in revised form 27 October 2008; accepted 27 October 2008.

Summary

The performance of the rK39 strip test in the diagnosis of Tunisian visceral leishmaniasis (VL) was evaluated and compared with that of immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT). A total of 929 sera, including 574 from VL patients, 54 from cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) patients, 42 from patients with other protozoan diseases, 152 from patients with non-parasitic diseases and 107 from healthy controls, were used in the study. The sensitivity and specificity of the rK39 strip test were 87.1 and 94.4%, respectively. Sixteen CL sera showed positive results, suggesting that the rK39 strip test is not restricted to Leishmania donovani complex detection. IFAT was comparatively more sensitive (98.9%) but slightly less specific (90.7%). Despite cross-reactivity shown by CL sera, the rK39 strip test can be recommended for the routine diagnosis of VL in Tunisia, as VL and CL are distinct clinical entities.

Keywords: Visceral leishmaniasis, Diagnosis, rK39 strip test, Immunofluorescent antibody test, Sensitivity and specificity, Tunisia