caa a22 4500 475832620 CHVBK 20180406123844.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170329e20000601xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s100960050503 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s100960050503 Detection of Leishmania in Immunocompromised Patients Using Peripheral Blood Spots on Filter Paper and the Polymerase Chain Reaction [Elektronische Daten] [L. Campino, S. Cortes, R. Pires, L. Oskam, P. Abranches]  The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the polymerase chain reaction could be used to detect Leishmania infantum in peripheral blood spots of immunocompromised patients. Although visceral leishmaniasis in immunocompromised individuals is routinely diagnosed by direct microscopy or by culture of biopsy material, both methods have disadvantages. In order to evaluate an alternative method of diagnosis, blood spots were collected on filter paper from 24 immunocompromised individuals with visceral leishmaniasis diagnosed by bone marrow microscopy or culture. The samples were tested using the polymerase chain reaction. Leishmania DNA was detected in 15 of 20 patients who had not yet begun treatment for Leishmania infection and in two of four patients undergoing treatment. Using microscopy or culture, parasites were detected in 5 of 19 and 8 of 19 fresh blood samples, respectively. The results suggest that the polymerase chain reaction can be used with blood spots on filter paper as an initial screening method for immunocompromised patients suspected to have Leishmania infection. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2000 Campino L. Unidade de Leishmanioses/Centro de Malária e outras Doenças Tropicais, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Rua da Junqueira 96, 1349-008 Lisboa, Portugal e-mail: campino@ihmt.unl.pt, PT aut Cortes S. Unidade de Leishmanioses/Centro de Malária e outras Doenças Tropicais, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Rua da Junqueira 96, 1349-008 Lisboa, Portugal e-mail: campino@ihmt.unl.pt, PT aut Pires R. Unidade de Leishmanioses/Centro de Malária e outras Doenças Tropicais, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Rua da Junqueira 96, 1349-008 Lisboa, Portugal e-mail: campino@ihmt.unl.pt, PT aut Oskam L. Department of Biomedical Research, Royal Tropical Institute, Meibergdreef 39, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands, NL aut Abranches P. Unidade de Leishmanioses/Centro de Malária e outras Doenças Tropicais, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Rua da Junqueira 96, 1349-008 Lisboa, Portugal e-mail: campino@ihmt.unl.pt, PT aut https://doi.org/10.1007/s100960050503 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s100960050503 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Campino L. Unidade de Leishmanioses/Centro de Malária e outras Doenças Tropicais, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Rua da Junqueira 96, 1349-008 Lisboa, Portugal e-mail: campino@ihmt.unl.pt, PT aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Cortes S. Unidade de Leishmanioses/Centro de Malária e outras Doenças Tropicais, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Rua da Junqueira 96, 1349-008 Lisboa, Portugal e-mail: campino@ihmt.unl.pt, PT aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Pires R. Unidade de Leishmanioses/Centro de Malária e outras Doenças Tropicais, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Rua da Junqueira 96, 1349-008 Lisboa, Portugal e-mail: campino@ihmt.unl.pt, PT aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Oskam L. Department of Biomedical Research, Royal Tropical Institute, Meibergdreef 39, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands, NL aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Abranches P. Unidade de Leishmanioses/Centro de Malária e outras Doenças Tropicais, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Rua da Junqueira 96, 1349-008 Lisboa, Portugal e-mail: campino@ihmt.unl.pt, PT aut Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer