The diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) remains problematic for
physicians in Syria, because the appearance of this disease is new and its
clinical criteria are similar to Malaria, Tuberculosis, and Toxoplasmosis
symptoms. For this reason, we
used the specific antigen (rK39) of
Leishmania donovani complex, in order to certify the appearance of
visceral leishmaniasis in some patients. Then we followed the infected
cases with VL during treatment (15 days) and after treatment (10 days)
with Glucantime®. We noted an improvement in clinical criteria and a
significant decrease in the parasite numbers as well as in the specific L.
donovani antibodies.
