TABLE 2.
Comparison of the diagnostic assays
| Assay (total)a | No. of positiveb samples/no. of tested samples
|
Sensitivity (%) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skin biopsy specimens | Bone marrow samples | Blood samples | Duodenal biopsy specimensc | Gastric biopsy specimens | Lesion aspirates | Total | ||
| In vitro cultivation (38) | 6/9 | 3/5 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | NA | 12/17 | 70.59 |
| Serology (16) | 5/9 | 3/4 | 0/1 | NA | NA | NA | 8/14 | 57.14 |
| LEG PCR (50) | 10/16d | 7/7 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 23/29 | 79.31 (100)d |
| SSU-ITS PCR (29)e | 7/16 | 3/7 | 1/2 | 2/2 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 15/29 | 51.71 |
| Miniexon PCR (50) | 16/16 | 4/7 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 26/29 | 89.66 |
a
Total number of samples subjected to each assay.
b
Leishmaniasis confirmed by at least one of the diagnostic tests.
c
NA, not applicable.
d
All negative samples were subsequently shown to be infected with New World species; therefore, sensitivity for Old World species was adjusted to 100%.
e
Only samples that were previously identified as positive by other assays were tested.