Sensitivity of PCR and real-time PCR for the diagnosis of human visceral leishmaniasis using peripheral blood

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of PCR and real-time PCR for the diagnosis of human visceral leishmaniasis using peripheral blood samples.MethodsDNA extraction was performed using Promega Wizard® Genomic kits. PCR employing RV1/RV2 primers yielded 145-bp amplicons. Real-time PCR was performed with the same primers and SYBR Green ROX Plus mix. These techniques were used to analyze 100 peripheral blood samples from patients with clinical signs of the disease.ResultsThe sensitivity and specificity levels were 91,3%% and 29,6%, respectively, for real-time PCR and 97.78% and 61.82%, respectively, for PCR.ConclusionsReal-time PCR proved to be a satisfactory method for the diagnosis of human visceral leishmaniasis.