Parasitological and molecular search for Leishmania natural infection in phlebotomine sand flies in peri-urban and rural sites of an Argentinean area endemic for tegumentary leishmaniasis.

Leishmaniases are neglected tropical diseases caused by Leishmania spp. parasites transmitted by the bite of phlebotomine sand flies. In Argentina, the most endemic area of American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) has been Orán department, Province of Salta, where Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis prevails and Nyssomyia neivai is considered as its vector, although there is no accurate and sufficient information in this regard.

Sand fly typing: a simple and morphologically-supported method based on polymorphism of 18S rRNA gene in a Leishmaniasis endemic area of Argentina.

Leishmaniases are vector-borne diseases that in the Americas are distributed from southern United States to northern Argentina. The vectors for this disease are small dipterans known as sand flies that are usually identified morphologically by observing structures with taxonomic value; but it is time-consuming, laborious, and requires entomological expertise. Then, this work was aimed at identifying sand flies with molecular techniques, using the morphological identification as a reference technique, in an endemic area of American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis (ATL) located in northern Argentina.

Visceral Leishmaniasis Caused by Leishmania infantum in Salta, Argentina: Possible Reservoirs and Vectors.

Cases of human visceral leishmaniasis (HVL) were not recorded until recently in the Chaco region of northwestern Argentina. Dogs were surveyed at the sites of infection of two HVL index cases in the Chaco region of Salta province. Canine cases (CanL) were diagnosed by two parasitological methods, two molecular methods targeting mini- and maxicircle DNA, and immunochromatographic dipstick.

[Immunoenzymatic evaluation of the recombinant SAPA protein of Trypanosoma cruzi in naturally infected dogs].

We evaluated the recombinant antigen SAPA (Shed Acute Phase Antigen) for the detection of Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies in sera from naturally infected dogs. The technique used was ELISA and the antigens were a homogenate of parasite T. cruzi (ELISA-H) and the recombinant SAPA (ELISA-SAPA).

[Role of three ELISA tests using promastigote homogenates of Leishmania braziliensis, L. amazonensis and L. guyanensis in the diagnosis of tegumentary leishmaniasis].

It is important to know whether the variability of species of Leishmania parasites circulating in a region affects the performance of the ELISA test for the diagnosis of leishmaniasis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the reactivity of the ELISA using homogenates of promastigotes of Leishmania (V.) braziliensis (ELISAb), Leishmania (L) amazonensis (ELISAa) and Leishmania (V.

[Reactivity of GST-SAPA antigen of Trypanosoma cruzi against sera from patients with Chagas disease and leishmaniasis].

Serologic diagnosis of Trypanosoma cruzi infection is important due to the limited sensitivity of direct parasitologic methods for diagnosis in the indeterminate and chronic phases of disease. SAPA antigen has been used in several studies and has been shown to be a good marker for use in the diagnosis of T. cruzi infection.