1. Performance of an indigenous β-mercaptoethanol-modified antigen in comparison with a commercial reference in direct agglutination test for detection of canine visceral leishmaniasis
- Author
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Paulo Paes de Andrade, Lenea Campino, Laura Barral Veloso, José Antunes Afonso de Almeida, Abdallah el Harith, Saul José Semião-Santos, Marcia Almeida de Melo, Luís Miguel Lourenço Martins, Artur Armando de Moura Marinho, and Borriello, S. Peter
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Male ,Microbiology (medical) ,Leishmania donovani ,Antibodies, Protozoan ,Antigens, Protozoan ,Sensitivity and Specificity ,Microbiology ,antigen ,Dogs ,Antigen ,Agglutination Tests ,Direct agglutination test ,parasitic diseases ,medicine ,Animals ,agglutination test ,Dog Diseases ,Leishmania infantum ,b-mercaptoethanolmodified ,leishmaniasis ,Leishmania ,biology ,Leishmaniasis ,DAT ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,biology.organism_classification ,Agglutination (biology) ,Titer ,Visceral leishmaniasis ,Immunology ,Leishmaniasis, Visceral ,Female ,b-mercaptoethanol- modified antigen - Abstract
We compared the performance of a locally produced β-mercaptoethanol-modified promastigote antigen (β-ME-Ag) of an indigenous Leishmania infantum strain against that of a trypsinized Leishmania donovani reference (REF-Ag) in the direct agglutination test (DAT) for detection of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL). One hundred and fifty-one serum samples collected from dogs belonging to four groups with different conditions were included. At a DAT titre of 1 : 320, statistically determined as optimal cut-off value for β-ME-Ag, and 1 : 160 for REF-Ag, a sensitivity and a specificity of 100 % were estimated for β-ME-Ag in comparison with 96.6 % and 100 %, respectively, for REF-Ag. Overall, levels of agglutination titres recorded for the two antigens were highly concordant (Cohen’s κ = 0.879) in both the CVL and non-CVL groups. Based on current results, and ease experienced in processing the antigen and reading the test outcome, we recommend incorporation of β-ME-Ag in DAT for confirmation or exclusion of suspected CVL in dogs.
- Published
- 2014
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