Estandarización y evaluación de ELISA para el serodiagnóstico de leishmaniasis l. Leishmaniasis cutánea

Abstract

An ELlSA test with alkaline phosphatase enzyme conjugate was evaluated to detect antibodies against Leishmania in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis. The conjugate dilution was 1 :10,000, the serum dilution 1 :400 and the optimal antigen concentration 5 pgImL. We analized 163 normal control sera, 31 sera from patients with a diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis confirmed by parasitological methods and 39 sera from patients with Chagas disease. The specificity of the test was 94.6% and its sensitivity 58.1% with optical density values equal or greater than 0.502. Cross-reactiviiy was detected with sera frorn Chagas disease patients. However, the specificity and sensitivity of the test were 83.2% and 83.9%, respectively with OD values equal or greater than 0.314 obtained from normal control sera values. The results of this study suggest that ELlSA might be a useful test in diagnosing cutaneous leishmaniasis in areas where Chagas disease is not endemic, which are very well located in Colombia.