{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]],"date-time":"2026-05-21T20:02:18Z","timestamp":1779393738495,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2013,3,27]],"date-time":"2013-03-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1364342400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/www.springer.com\/tdm"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["BMC Infect Dis"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2013,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a disseminated protozoan infection caused by <jats:italic>Leishmania donovani<\/jats:italic> parasites which affects almost half a million persons annually. Most of these are from the Indian sub-continent, East Africa and Brazil. Our study was designed to elucidate the role of symptomatic and asymptomatic <jats:italic>Leishmania donovani<\/jats:italic> infected persons in the epidemiology of VL in Northern Ethiopia.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>The efficacy of quantitative real-time kinetoplast DNA\/PCR (qRT-kDNA PCR) for detecting <jats:italic>Leishmania donovani<\/jats:italic> in dried-blood samples was assessed in volunteers living in an endemic focus.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>Of 4,757 samples, 680 (14.3%) were found positive for <jats:italic>Leishmania<\/jats:italic> k-DNA but most of those (69%) had less than 10 parasites\/ml of blood. Samples were re-tested using identical protocols and only 59.3% of the samples with 10 parasite\/ml or less were qRT-kDNA PCR positive the second time. Furthermore, 10.8% of the PCR negative samples were positive in the second test. Most samples with higher parasitemias remained positive upon re-examination (55\/59 =93%). We also compared three different methods for DNA preparation. Phenol-chloroform was more efficient than sodium hydroxide or potassium acetate. DNA sequencing of ITS1 PCR products showed that 20\/22 samples were <jats:italic>Leishmania donovani<\/jats:italic> while two had ITS1 sequences homologous to <jats:italic>Leishmania major<\/jats:italic>.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>Although qRT-kDNA PCR is a highly sensitive test, the dependability of low positives remains questionable. It is crucial to correlate between PCR parasitemia and infectivity to sand flies. While optimal sensitivity is achieved by targeting k-DNA, it is important to validate the causative species of VL by DNA sequencing.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2334-13-153","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,3,27]],"date-time":"2013-03-27T01:14:15Z","timestamp":1364346855000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":52,"title":["Evaluation of PCR procedures for detecting and quantifying Leishmania donovani DNA in large numbers of dried human blood samples from a visceral leishmaniasis focus in Northern Ethiopia"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Ibrahim","family":"Abbasi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Samar","family":"Aramin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Asrat","family":"Hailu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Welelta","family":"Shiferaw","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aysheshm","family":"Kassahun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shewaye","family":"Belay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Charles","family":"Jaffe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alon","family":"Warburg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,3,27]]},"reference":[{"issue":"5","key":"2359_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"305","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cimid.2004.03.004","volume":"27","author":"P Desjeux","year":"2004","unstructured":"Desjeux P: Leishmaniasis: current situation and new perspectives. 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