Epidemiology of Carriers in Tan Chang County, Gansu Province, China.

Background: Leishmaniasis is a regional infectious disease caused by the bite of -carrying sandflies. The clinical symptoms include prolonged fever, spleen enlargement, anemia, emaciation, leukopenia, and increased serum globulin levels. If not appropriately treated, patients may die of complications caused by leishmaniasis within 1-2 years after the onset of the illness.

An outbreak of the desert sub-type of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis in Jiashi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China.

Few outbreaks of the desert sub-type of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (VL) have been described worldwide. In 2008, the incidence rate of VL in Jiashi County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the western part of the People's Republic of China, increased more than twenty-folds compared to the average annual incidence rate. The majority of the cases (96.

[Asymptomatic Leishmania infection in human population of Wenxian County, Gansu Province].

Objective: To analyze the status of Leishmania infantum asymptomatic infection in human population of a Kala-azar endemic area in Wenxian County, Gansu Province, and to evaluate the tests used.

Methods: Blood samples were tested by PCR using two pairs of primers, RV1-RV2 and K13A-K13B, for detecting Leishmania-specific DNA. ELISA and rK39-dipstick were used to detect Leishmania-specific antibodies.