TABLE 1.
Clinical and immunohistological data for the analyzed LCL and DCL skin biopsies
| Group | Patient no. (age [yr]) | Clinical diagnosis | No. of lesions (age of biopsied lesion[s]) | Histological and parasitological diagnosisa | Parasites/field (×100)b | No. of iNOS-positive cells (mean ± SD)/field (×100) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 1 (34) | LCL | 1 (5 yr) | LCL | 4.0 ± 2.0 | 81 ± 17 |
| 2 (30) | LCL | 2 (4 mo) | LCL | 2.3 ± 0.7 | 20 ± 2 | |
| 3 (15) | LCL | 6 (1 mo) | LCL | 21.0 ± 9.3 | 25 ± 8 | |
| 4 (30) | LCL | 1 (2 mo) | LCL | 26.0 ± 1.7 | 32 ± 4.6 | |
| 5 (34) | LCL | 1 (?)c | LCL | 30.0 ± 9.3 | 8 ± 6.0 | |
| 6 (41) | LCL | 1 (?) | LCL | 28.0 ± 8.3 | 36 ± 11 | |
| 7 (28) | LCL | 1 (2 mo) | LCL | 1.2 ± 1.1 | 56 ± 14 | |
| 8 (28) | LCL | 2 (2 mo) | LCL | 5.0 ± 1.6 | 11 ± 6.3 | |
| 9 (91) | LCL | 1 (?) | LCL | 38 ± 8.5 | 13 ± 6.5 | |
| II | 10 (25) | LCL | 1 (1 mo) | Similar to LCL | ca. 2-3% | 19 ± 11.7 |
| 11 (16) | LCL | 1 (5 mo) | Similar to LCL | ca. 30% | 14 ± 8.8 | |
| 12 (43) | LCL | 2 (1.5 mo) | Similar to LCL | ca. 50-70% | 3 ± 0.6 | |
| 13 (68) | LCL | 1 (5 mo) | Similar to LCL | ca. 60% | 4 ± 4.2 | |
| III | 14 (40) | DCL | Multiple (2 mo) | DCL | ca. 100% | 6 ± 1.9 |
| 15 (40) | DCL | Multiple (2 mo) | DCL | ca. 100% | 7 ± 4.5 | |
| 16 (53) | DCL | Multiple (3 mo) | DCL | ca. 100% | 7 ± 2.4 | |
| 17 (18) | DCL | Multiple (5 mo) | DCL | ca. 50% | 18 ± 5.4 |
Clinically and histopathologically (as assessed by H&E staining; see Material and Methods), the lesions of group II patients did not differ from those of group I patients except for the presence of a high number of parasites (which was otherwise seen only in DCL lesions).
For group I patients, clusters of Leishmania parasites per section were determined because individual parasites could not be counted. Numbers of parasites per field are given as means ± standard deviations. For group II and III patients, neither individual parasites nor clusters of parasites could be determined due to the extremely high parasite burden. Therefore, parasite burden is given as the estimated percentage of the L. mexicana-immunostained area per section.
Question marks denote unknown ages.