One humped camel (Camelus dromedarius) breeds, indigenous to India, have been shown to have good genetic potential to produce milk. Camel milk not only is cost-effective in terms of feed conversion but also has additional advantage of longer lactation period and unique adaptation mechanisms for warm arid and semiarid regions. The key features of camel milk in comparison with other milk are low fat with high content of unsaturated and long-chain fatty acid. The proteins are rich in lactoferrin and lysozymes, but deficient in b-lactoglobulin. It has higher percentage of total salts, free calcium, protective proteins and vitamin C, and some of the microminerals, viz iron, copper and zinc. Physicochemical properties of camel milk are also unique and useful for food processing. The shelf life of raw camel milk is 8-9 h, which can be extended up to 18-20 h through activation of camel lactoperoxidase system. Heat stability of camel milk is shown to be highest at pH 6.8, and it ferments relatively slowly compared to the cattle milk. The camel milk is successfully processed for producing a variety of products, such as fermented milk ('lassi'), soft cheese, flavored milk and 'kulfee' (a kind of ice cream). Camel milk has been traditionally used in different regions of the world as natural adjuvant for managing a variety of human diseases.

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The recombinant product (rK39) of the 39-amino-acid repeats encoded by a kinesin-like protein-encoding gene of Leishmania chagasi was evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for diagnostic potential and the ability to predict the response to therapy in Indian kala-azar or visceral leishmaniasis (VL); we also compared its performance with that of crude soluble antigen (CSA). At the diagnosis of VL, the anti-rK39 antibody titer was 59-fold higher than the anti-CSA antibody titer. With successful therapy, antibody titers declined steeply at the end of treatment and during follow-up. In contrast, patients who relapsed showed increased titers of antibodies to rK39. The extremely high levels of anti-rK39 antibodies in VL cases suggest the application of rK39 for sensitive and specific serodiagnosis, and rK39 ELISA is also valuable in monitoring drug therapy and detecting relapse of the disease.Indian kala-azar or visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a potentially fatal disease caused by Leishmania donovani. It is endemic in eastern parts of India and often turns epidemic (22,29). Definitive diagnosis of this disease continues to require demonstration of parasites in splenic or bone marrow aspirates through invasive procedures. Recent efforts to improve the diagnosis of Indian VL and post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) have been made by detecting anti-parasite antibodies (9, 11) via indirect hemagglutination (22,29), indirect immunofluorescence (6), direct agglutination (26), latex agglutination (8), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (5, 10).Recently, a kinesin-related protein-encoding gene has been discovered in Leishmania chagasi that contains a repetitive 117-bp sequence encoding 39 amino acid residues (K39) conserved at the C-terminal end in all of the VL-causing isolates examined so far (4). The recombinant product of K39 (rK39) has proven to be a very sensitive and specific antigen in an ELISA for the serodiagnosis of VL from the endemic foci in Brazil, China, Pakistan, and Sudan (4,18). In the present study, we evaluated the ability of titers of antibodies against rK39 to diagnose active disease and predict either a successful response to therapy or a relapse of the disease and compared its performance with that of crude soluble lysate of L. donovani promastigotes. The crude soluble antigens (CSA) used in this study were largely L. donovani whole promastigotes or their soluble lysates. MATERIALS AND METHODSPatients. The Ethical Committee of the Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, approved this study. The first study group consisted of sera from 43 patients with parasitologically proven VL that were tested by ELISA using the rK39 antigen (kind gift of Steven G. Reed, Corixa Corporation, Seattle, Wash.), as well as by crude soluble lysate. The second study group consisted of 17 L. donovani-infected patients who were under going therapy. Titers of antibodies to rK39 and crude soluble lysate were determined for these patients at sequential time points...

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