Antibody detection is a safely applied method at wide scale in diagnosis of Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL). Towards further advancement of serodiagnosis, rK28 antigen has been recently introduced as a candidate for diagnosis of VL. We evaluated sensitivity and specificity of rK28 antigen in a micro-ELISA format in comparison to rk39 antigen. The test was conducted on 252 parasitologically confirmed VL cases, 103 endemic healthy controls, 95 non endemic healthy controls, 88 other infectious disease and 53 follow-up cases. Of 252 parasitologically confirm VL cases, 251 cases were reported positive by rK28 antigen yielding 99.6% sensitivity (95% CI, 0.97–0.99) which was similar to sensitivity of rK39 ELISA (99.6%) (95% CI, 0.97–0.99). Specificity of rK28 antigen in non-endemic and endemic healthy controls was 100% (95%CI 0.96–1) and 94.17% (95% CI, 0.88–0.97), respectively. In 88 different diseases, specificity was 95.45% (95% CI, 0.84–0.96). With rK39 antigen, specificity of non-endemic and endemic controls, and different diseases was 100% (95%CI 0.96–1) and 92.23% (95% CI 0.85–0.96), and 96.59% (95% CI 0.90–0.98) respectively. Our results show that rK39 and rK28 antigens have similar sensitivity and specificity and rK28 can also be used as a serodiagnostic tool in endemic population of Bihar.

Previously developed methods for noninvasive PCR diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) have significant limitations. Diagnosis of VL using PCR and buccal swabs was evaluated in 307 subjects, including 148 patients confirmed to have VL. This method is simple and well tolerated and has good potential for development, showing 83% sensitivity with 90.56% specificity in control groups.

Abstract. The rK39 rapid immunochromatographic test (ICT) is now being widely used in the diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) using serum. We evaluated the presence of anti-rK-39 antibody in human saliva being noninvasive to replace the invasive procedures of diagnosis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and ICT assays were performed in 300 subjects: 114-confirmed VL patients, 95 and 47 healthy controls from endemic and nonendemic regions, respectively, and 44 subjects with different diseases. Sensitivity in saliva was 83.3% by ELISA and 82.5% by ICT, compared with 100% for both ICT and ELISA in serum. Specificity in saliva was 100%, 90.5%, and 88.6% with ELISA, and 91.48%, 91.57%, and 84.06% using ICT, in nonendemic, endemic, and different diseases, respectively. In serum, specificity was 97%, 88.5%, and 89% by ELISA and 100%, 94.7%, and 95.5% by ICT in nonendemic, endemic, and different diseases, respectively. Saliva is not suitable for diagnosis of VL because of low sensitivity.