Table 1. Leishmania parasite load levels per skin lesion site and sampling method.

Skin lesion site	Sampling method	Parasite load ‡
		Median	IQR	Range
Raised border ¶	Biopsy ¥	2.96 × 103	1.59 × 102–1.94 × 104	2.87 × 101–2.88 × 105
	Scraping †	5.96 × 104	3.14 × 103–1.31 × 105	1.81 × 102–6.84 × 105
Base (inner border)*	Biopsy ¥	3.33 × 104	1.86 × 103–1.32 × 105	7.44 × 101–1.56 × 106
	Scraping †	7.61 × 104	7.29 × 103–3.90 × 105	2.24 × 102–1.17 × 106
	Cytology brush §	1.76 × 105	1.76 × 104–9.67 × 105	1.14 × 103–4.12 × 106
Center*	Biopsy ¥	2.11 × 104	2.14 × 103–1.19 × 105	2.53 × 101–2.29 × 106
	Scraping †	1.11 × 105	1.50 × 104–3.78 × 105	1.72 × 102–2.92 × 106
	Cytology brush §	1.61 × 105	2.69 × 104–1.04 × 106	1.07 × 103–5.72 × 106

Note. IQR, interquartile range (25^th percentile–75^th percentile).

Data shown are the quantified paired parasite load results (8 specimens per lesion) corresponding to 28 patients.

^‡Number of parasites per μg of tissue DNA.

^¶ P<0.0001, for the comparison of parasite loads between biopsy and scraping specimens (Wilcoxon signed rank test).

*P<0.0001, for the comparison of parasite loads among biopsy, scraping, and cytology brush specimens (Friedman test with Dunn’s post hoc test).

^¥ P<0.0001, for the comparison of parasite loads among biopsy specimens of the ulcer border, base, and center (Friedman test with Dunn’s post hoc test).

^† P = 0.0002, for the comparison of parasite loads among scraping specimens of the ulcer border, base, and center (Friedman test with Dunn’s post hoc test).

^§ P = 0.07, for the comparison of parasite loads between cytology brush specimens of the ulcer base and center (Wilcoxon signed rank test).