[Investigation of Leishmania infantum seropositivity in HIV/AIDS patients]

Abstract

In recent years an increase in the rate of detection of HIV and Leishmania co-infections has been reported from many countries especially countries in Southern Europe. Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is sporadically detected in some parts of Turkey. Although the natural transmission is via sandfly bites, VL may be transmitted by needle sharing of intravenous drug addicts or by blood transfusion in HIV/AIDS patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of specific antibodies against Leishmania infantum, which is the causative agent of VL, in the sera of HIV/AIDS patients. A total of 79 HIV/AIDS patients (61 male, 18 female; mean age: 30 +/- 2 years) with confirmed diagnosis by HIV Reference Laboratory of Refik Saydam Hygiene Center between the years of 2004-2006, were included in the study. L. infantum antibodies were searched by fast agglutination screening test (FAST), direct agglutination test (DAT), indirect immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and rK39 dipstick assay. Only one serum sample (1.2%) was found to be seropositive by all of the serological tests (> 1/100 by FAST, 1/3200 by DAT, 1/256 by IFAT, and specific bands for L. infantum by rK39 dipstick test), while the remaining samples were negative with all of the methods. The seropositive serum was from a 49 years-old heterosexual male, living on the Mediterranean cost and has had acquired the HIV infection by sexual contact. He has no history of intravenous drug use but he had experienced blood transfusion. Since the seropositive serum sample was collected 2-3 weeks after the transfusion, the transmission of L. infantum was thought to be during blood transfusion, however it could also be acquired via a previous sandfly bite. In conclusion although the rate of L. infantum seropositivity was low in HIV/AIDS patients in our study, the possibility of HIV/Leishmania co-infections should be considered.