Leishmaniasis Cutaneous Tests Reliability in Tunisia

摘要

A cross sectional study aimed to evaluate the effect of antigenic preparation {Leishmania infantum versus Leishmania major) and dose of leishmania antigens (5* 10~6 versus 2.5* 10~6 parasites in the same volume) on the repro-ducibility of delayed type hypersensitivity leishmanin skin test. Results showed that among 34 individuals involved from visceral leishmaniasis endemic area, 26 (76,5%) had a positif Leishmania infantum leishmanin test and 27 (79,4%) to Leishmania major leishmanin. Intra-class correlation coefficient was 0,80 and concordance Kappa (k) was 0,57. Among 153 individuals from zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis, 92.9% revealed a positive test for both types of leishmanin (L-L.major full dose versus L-L.major half dose). Intra-class correlation coefficient was 0,78 and concordance Kappa (kappa) was 0,82. These results demonstrate a limited effect of leishmania antigenic variation and antigen dose on the reproducibility of delayed type hypersensitivity induced by the leishmanin test.