Specific noninvasive detection of leishmania donovani in desquamated buccal cell swab samples from human visceral leishmaniasis-HIV coinfected patients

Abstract

Diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection with visceral leishmaniasis (VL) coinfection is challenging. Specific diagnosis of VL in HIV-coinfected patients was evaluated by molecular methods in desquamated buccal swab samples, demonstrating 86.3% sensitivity and 98.3% specificity in controls. This test holds significant potential for development as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for VL in HIV-coinfected patients. Copyright © 2014, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.