%0 Journal Article %A El Harith, A. %A Chowdhury, S. %A Al-Masum, A. %A Semiato-Santos, S. %A Das, P. K. %A Akhter, S. %A Vetter, J. C. M. %A Haq, I. %T Reactivity of various leishmanial antigens in a direct agglutination test and their value in differentiating post-kala azar dermal leishmaniasis from leprosy and other skin conditions %D 1996 %J Journal of Medical Microbiology, %V 44 %N 2 %P 141-146 %@ 1473-5644 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/00222615-44-2-141 %I Microbiology Society, %X A direct agglutination test (DAT) for the detection of post-kala azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) was evaluated in conditions that simulate the disease clinically or immunologically. A reference strain of Leishmania donovani (LEM 1399), and antigen preparations from two Leishmania isolates from Bangladeshi patients with post-kala azar dermal leishmaniasis or visceral leismaniasis were used. A titre of at least 51200 was obtained in tests of patients with PKDL with all three antigens, whereas a maximum titre of 1600 was recorded in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis, mucocutaneous leishmaniasis or leprosy. Antigens from dermal isolates of L. tropica (LV 140) and L. braziliensis (LV 65) yielded titres of 1600-6400 in patients with PKDL. The lowest titre recorded in 70 patients tested with the homologous PKDL antigen was 409600. In patients with leprosy, cutaneous leishmaniasis, syphilis, onchocerciasis, tuberculosis, blastomycosis or vitiligo, titres ranged from 100 to 1600. The DAT is better than current parasitological and histopathological methods for the diagnosis of PKDL in areas in which leprosy is co-endemic. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/00222615-44-2-141