Title of article :
A Community Based Cohort Study on Usefulness of Leishmanin Skin Test in Detection of Immunoreactivity Against Leishmania donovani Infection in an Endemic Area of Kala-Azar, Bihar, India
Author/Authors :
Neena, Verma Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, (Indian Council of Medical Research), India , Bimal, Sanjiva Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, (Indian Council of Medical Research), India , Kumar, Gupta Anil Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, (Indian Council of Medical Research), India , Shekhar, Lal Chandra Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, (Indian Council of Medical Research), India , Ranjan, Alok All India Institute of Medical Sciences,Phulwarisarif, Patna, Bihar, India , Bihari, Verma Rakesh Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, (Indian Council of Medical Research), India , pandey-Krishna, Pandey Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, (Indian Council of Medical Research), India , Nand, Rabidas Vidya Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, (Indian Council of Medical Research), India , Kar, Shantanu Kumar Regional Medical Research Centre (Indian Council of Medical Research), Chandrashekharpur, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India , Das, P- Pradeep Das Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, (Indian Council of Medical Research), India
Abstract :
Introduction: Control efforts of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) are hindered due to
inappropriate early case detection of Leishmania infection with varying degree of
susceptibility to develop the disease. Methods: We assessed the current infection
status using Leishmanin skin test (LST) and direct agglutination test (DAT) in a cohort
population (206 randomly selected individuals) in a VL endemic area of Bihar, India.
Results: Cellular immunity was revealed in 18.4% and antibody response in 18.9% of
the population. The age-group of 20-29 years were most vulnerable. DAT titer was
inversely proportional to duration of past history of VL. The houses having present or
past history of kala-azar in family were observed with high Leishmanin and DAT
positivity, indicating relevance of household contacts in the disease transmission.
Conclusion: The reactivity of both LST and DAT tests may help in identifying the
possible groups with varying degree of susceptibility and risk of infection or having
prior exposure to the leishmania infection with or without development of the disease.
Keywords :
Leishmanin Skin Test (LST) , Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) , Cell- Mediated Immunity (CMI) , Kala-Azar (KA) , Direct Agglutination Test (DAT)
