{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,20]],"date-time":"2026-05-20T20:33:26Z","timestamp":1779309206043,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,11]],"date-time":"2024-01-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1704931200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"European and Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership","award":["TMA2016SF-1437"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["TMA2016SF-1437"]}]},{"name":"University of Amsterdam, Academic Medical Centre","award":["TMA2016SF-1437"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["TMA2016SF-1437"]}]},{"name":"Mekelle University, College of Health Sciences","award":["TMA2016SF-1437"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["TMA2016SF-1437"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Diagnostics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The lack of accurate and feasible diagnostic tests poses a significant challenge to visceral leishmaniasis (VL) healthcare services in endemic areas. To date, various VL diagnostic tests have been or are being developed, and their diagnostic performances need to be assessed. In the present study, the diagnostic performances of rk39 RDT, the direct agglutination test (DAT), microscopy, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), and miniature direct-on-blood polymerase chain reaction\u2013nucleic acid lateral flow immunoassay (mini-dbPCR-NALFIA) were assessed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) as the reference test in an endemic region of Ethiopia. In this study, 235 suspected VL cases and 104 non-endemic healthy controls (NEHCs) were recruited. Among the suspected VL cases, 144 (61.28%) tested positive with qPCR. The sensitivities for rk39 RDT, DAT, microscopy, LAMP assay, and mini-dbPCR-NALFIA were 88.11%, 96.50%, 76.58%, 94.33%, and 95.80%, respectively. The specificities were 83.33%, 97.96%, 100%, 97.38%, and 98.92% for rk39 RDT, DAT, microscopy, LAMP assay, and mini-dbPCR-NALFIA, respectively. In conclusion, rk39 RDT and microscopy exhibited lower sensitivities, while DAT demonstrated excellent performance. LAMP and mini-dbPCR-NALFIA showed excellent performances with feasibility for implementation in remote endemic areas, although the latter requires further evaluation in such regions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/diagnostics14020163","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,11]],"date-time":"2024-01-11T03:21:41Z","timestamp":1704943301000},"page":"163","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Comparison of the Diagnostic Performances of Five Different Tests in Diagnosing Visceral Leishmaniasis in an Endemic Region of Ethiopia"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Dawit Gebreegziabiher","family":"Hagos","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Mekelle University, Mekelle 1871, Ethiopia"},{"name":"Laboratory for Experimental Parasitology, Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Infectious Diseases Programme, Amsterdam Institute for Infection and Immunity, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1618-7247","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yazezew Kebede","family":"Kiros","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Mekelle University, Mekelle 1871, Ethiopia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mahmud","family":"Abdulkader","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Mekelle University, Mekelle 1871, Ethiopia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7096-6279","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Henk D. F. H.","family":"Schallig","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory for Experimental Parasitology, Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Infectious Diseases Programme, Amsterdam Institute for Infection and Immunity, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dawit","family":"Wolday","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Mekelle University, Mekelle 1871, Ethiopia"},{"name":"Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kassa, M., Abdellati, S., Cnops, L., Bremer Hinckel, B.C., Yeshanew, A., Hailemichael, W., Vogt, F., Adriaensen, W., Mertens, P., and Diro, E. 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