Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND:
Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a systemic infection of the reticulo- endothelial system that could affect on immune system and biochemical parameters like the concentration of trace elements which may be significantly changed .
OBJECTIVE:
Evaluating the level of cytokines (INF- γ ,IL-10) and concentration of Zn in Visceral Leishmaniasis in children after diagnosis .
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
A total of (98) child their ages rang (6m-5y) were attending to the Central Public Health Laboratory and Teaching Laboratories of Medical City suspected to be infected with kala-azar, the diagnosis was done by both IFAT technique and Rapid Kala-azar (r-K39) detecting test and evaluating the level of cytokines (INF- γ, IL-10) by ELISA and concentration of trace element ( Zn ) by Atomic Absorption Technique .
RESULTS :
The dipstick test ( r-K39) showed a high sensitivity of (92.1%) compared to IFAT (73.6%) with a specificity of 100% for both tests. Serum samples of 56 child with positive results in IFAT and rK39 test were used for the investigation of IL-10, IFN-γ. The mean levels of IL-10 (80.207±77.54 Pg/ml) and IFN- γ (5.426±4.599 IU/ml) were highly significant increased in patients compared to healthy controls .The mean level of serum Zn (69.71±7.97μg/dl) was significantly low in VL patients compared to healthy controls .
CONCLUSION :
This study showed that the ( r-K39) dipstick test could be more sensitive than IFAT technique in the diagnosis of VL with a specificity of 100 % for both test according to clinical diagnosis. Both IFN-γ & IL-10 were significantly increased in VL patients as compared to controls group. The concentration of Zinc was significantly lower in VL patients than healthy controls.