Identification of patients with Cutaneous Leishmaniasis using microscopic observation and PCR methods

Abstract

Introduction: Leishmaniasis is endemic in more than 88 countries and threatens more than 350 million people. Until recently, diagnosis was based primarily on clinical symptoms and microscopic observation of parasites in stained tissue smears.PCR methods using either genomic or kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) are now frequently used as the most sensitive test for screening the suspected patients of cutaneous Leishmaniasis. In this study, we calculated the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of microscopic observation in diagnosis of cutaneous Leishmaniasis compared with the PCR technique as the gold standard.