Table 2. General characteristics of the animals used in the study.
| Histological structure of spleen | |||
| Positive parameters | Organized(n = 13) | Disorganized(n = 12) | Significance |
| Gender | F = 7/M = 6 | F = 5/M = 7 | P = 0.70a |
| Clinical categoryb | |||
| Oligosymptomatic | 11 | 5 | |
| Polysymptomatic | 2 | 7 | P = 0.01a |
| Positive test for Leishmania infection: | |||
| Spleen culture | 6/13 (46%) | 6/12 (50%) | P = 1.00a |
| Serology | 8/13 (62%) | 8/12 (67%) | P = 1.00a |
| LST | 2/13 (15%) | 1/12 (8%) | P = 1.00a |
| PCR | 12/12 (100%) | 11/11 (100%) | P = 1.00a |
| Parasite/100 µg of spleen (quantitative real time PCR)c | |||
| 25% percentile | 1.8×103 | 6.2×102 | |
| Median | 3.5×103 | 3.5×104 | P = 0.96d |
| 75% percentile | 1.9×105 | 3.4×106 | |
| At least one test positive | 13/13 (100%) | 12/12 (100%) | NTe |
a
Fisher's exact probability test;
b
With 1–3 (oligosymptomatic) or more than 3 (polysymptomatic) of the following clinical signs: emaciation, anemia, dermatitis, alopecia, conjunctivitis, onychogriphosis, increased lymph node size, splenomegaly and apathy. Detail are given in the text;
c
Quantitative PCR estimative only available for eight more recently collected animals of each group; Quantitative PCR was not available for 5 animals with organized and for 3 animals with disorganized splenic lymphoid tissue;
d
Mann-Whitney test.
e
Not tested.