Molecular monitoring of treatment efficacy in human visceral leishmaniasis.
Roy S., Moulik S., Chaudhuri SJ., Ghosh MK., Goswami RP., Saha B., Chatterjee M.
BackgroundFocused efforts of the visceral leishmaniasis elimination program have led to a drastic decline in cases, and the present challenge is disease monitoring, which this study aimed to assess.MethodsA Leishmania kinetoplastid-targeted qPCR quantified parasite load at disease presentation, and following treatment completion (n=49); an additional 80 cases were monitored after completion of treatment.ResultsThe parasite load at disease presentation was 13 461.00 (2560.00-37764.00)/µg gDNA, which upon completion of treatment reduced in 47 of 49 cases to 1(1-1)/µg gDNA, p<0.0001. In 80 cases that presented >2 months post-treatment, their parasite burden similarly decreased to 1(1-1)/µg gDNA except in 6 of 80 cases, which were qPCR positive.ConclusionIn 129 cases of visceral leishmaniasis, qPCR by quantification of parasite burden proved effective for monitoring treatment.