A multifaceted intervention to prevent American cutaneous leishmaniasis in Colombia: results of a group-randomized trial.

Introduction: American cutaneous leishmaniasis is endemic in Colombia, where approximately 6.000 new cases are reported every year. Current prevention and control measures are restricted to the diagnosis and treatment of cases.

Comparative immunohistological analysis of the Montenegro skin test reaction in asymptomatic infection and in acute and chronic cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Introduction: The Montenegro skin test reaction and leishmaniasis lesions share fundamental characteristics of a delayed type hypersensitivity reaction.

Objectives: To determine whether the Montenegro skin test reaction (response to leishmanin) might approximate and thereby provide insight into the early inflammatory and immune response to Leishmania infection.

Materials And Methods: We compared the inflammatory response in biopsies of acute (evolution time < or = one month), and chronic lesions (evolution time > or = 6 months) with the Montenegro skin test reaction in the corresponding patients, and with the Montenegro skin test of asymptomatically infected volunteers.

Photographic and luminometric detection of luciferase reporter phages for drug susceptibility testing of clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates.

Luciferase reporter phages (LRPs) have proven to be efficient tools for drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Luminometric detection of LRP activity offers higher sensitivity and quantitative results, while a Polaroid film detection method offers a "low-tech" inexpensive alternative that is called the Bronx box. In this work we evaluated, improved, and compared the performance of the luminometer and the Bronx box formats for drug susceptibility testing with LRPs by using 51 clinical isolates of M.