[leish-l] MSF appeals for sera and advice.

[desjeuxp at who.ch]

Dear Rob
 
WHO has launched in early 2002 a multi-country trial (Ethiopia, Kenya and
Sudan) for a comparative evaluation of KATEX (Antigen detection in urine),
DAT freeze-dried antigen and K39/K26 to improve field diagnosis of visceral
diagnosis. I will contact the PIs and submit them your request for well
characterised sera. I hope we will be able to contribute to this highly
relevant objective.
 
Best personal regards.
 
Philippe
 

        _______________________________ 
                 Dr Philippe Desjeux 
                     Medical Officer 
        Department of Communicable Disease 
                Surveillance and Response 
                      (CDS/CSR) 
World Health Organization               Direct Tel. (+41 22) 791 38 70 
20, Avenue Appia                        Operator    (+41 22) 791 21 11 
CH-1211 Geneva 27               Fax:          (+41 22) 791 48 78 
Switzerland                     Email.        <desjeuxp at who.int> 

-----Original Message-----
From: Davidson, Robert N [mailto:r.n.davidson at ic.ac.uk]
Sent: Thursday, 16 May 2002 16:52
To: Leish-L at bdt.org.br
Subject: [leish-l] MSF appeals for sera and advice.



Dear Leishmaniacs,
 
This year, Medecins Sans Frontieres - Holland treated its 50,000th kala azar
patient in the East African region. 
 
We are trying to improve the accuracy of the rK39  dipstick, for the rapid
diagnosis of KA in Sudan/Ethiopia. We are actively engaged on this,  and
have excellent links with industrial R&D partners. Our objective  is to
produce a strip which works on whole blood,  probably 2 strips which are
used for screening and confirmation. We find that rK39 works less  well  in
Sudan than reported elsewhere  (Zijlstra Trop Med Int Health. 2001
Feb;6(2):108-13; Veeken Trop Med Int Health in press 2002). We may need to
alter the reagents on the strip or  use a combination of rK39 and  other
recombinant antigens.

Q1: Does anyone know if rK39 is an immunodominant peptide on the strains  of
the Sudanese-epidemic L donovani zymodemes MON 18, MON 30 and MON 82 (which
are  said to be closely related) ?

 Q2: Could anyone donate to our R&D efforts some sera from patients with
proven kala azar in Sudan (north or South) or northeast Ethiopia (Humera
focus)? Volumes of a few mL from a small number of well-characterised
patients are what we seek.

Best wishes,

Rob Davidson (technical kala azar adviser, MSF-Holland)

 

 

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