Background: Visceral leishmaniasis is potentially fatal protozoan diseases caused by Leishmania donovani. Nepal is an endemic region in which visceral leishmaniasis causes a major public health problem in the lowland areas that border the endemic areas of Bihar state in India. Accurate diagnosis to inform treatment is a first step in achieving the goal of visceral leishmaniasis elimination from South East Asian regions by 2020.
Objective: The objective of the present study was to compare between the Microcopy and polymerase chain reaction for diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis.
Methods: In the present study, 236 bone marrow aspirations were collected from suspected visceral leishmaniasis patients in Janakpur Zonal Hospital, Dhanusa district, Terai region of Nepal in between 2003-2007. We evaluated bone marrow samples by microscopic examination with subsequent testing of the same sample by polymerase chain reaction and sequence analysis.
Results: Giemsa's solution stained bone marrow slides stored for over five years were used for polymerase chain reaction amplification. The result showed that 71% were polymerase chain reaction positive and 56% were microscopic positive. Out of 104 microscopic negative bone marrow samples, 15% of samples were positive by polymerase chain reaction.
Conclusion: Polymerase chain reaction could make a very good option for diagnosis by using less or non-invasive material from visceral leishmaniasis patients in endemic areas of Nepal.