Clinical aspects of visceral leishmaniasis caused by L. infantum in adults. Ten years of experience of the largest outbreak in Europe: what have we learned?

Table 5 Diagnostic test results

	IC-VL (n = 84)	HIV-VL (n = 11)	IS-VL (n = 16)	Total (n = 111)	P-value
RDT (rk39-ICT) (n/T, %)	26/62 (42)	5/10 (50)	7/12 (58)	38/84 (45)	0.550
ELISA/iIFAT (n/T, %)	77/81 (95)	11/11 (100)	16/16 (100)	104/108 (96)	0.500
Optical microscopy (bone marrow) (n/T, %)	32/78 (41)	5/10 (50)	8/16 (50)	45/104 (43)	0.726
Culture (bone marrow) (n/T, %)	6/28 (21)	3/3 (100)	3/6 (43)	12/37 (32)	χ² = 8.64, df = 2, p =0.013*
PCR (bone marrow) (n/T, %)	67/73 (92)	9/10 (90)	16/16 (100)	92/99 (93)	0.474
PCR (blood) (n/T, %)	21/25 (84)	4/4 (100)	7/8 (88)	32/37 (87)	0.682

Abbreviations: RDT (rK39-ICT), rapid diagnostic test, immunochromatographic test based on rK39 antigen; n, sample size for each group; IC-VL, visceral leishmaniasis in immunocompetent patients; HIV-VL, visceral leishmaniasis in patients with HIV; IS-VL, visceral leishmaniasis in immunosuppressed patients (receiving steroids, methotrexate, anti-TNF); n/T, number of positives/total number of tests performed

ISSN: 1756-3305