Skin reactions to thimerosal and Leishmania in dogs from a leishmaniasis endemic area: it is better to keep them apart
Positive Montenegro's skin test is a delayed type hypersensitivity reaction widely used as indicative of previous infection with Leishmania in both humans and dogs. Montenegro's antigen consists of a crude Leishmania antigen solution, usually containing thimerosal as preserving agent. In this work it is shown that a large proportion of dogs (11 out of 56) examined in an endemic area of leishmaniasis presented induration at the site of injection of a diluent containing thimerosal alone. This clearly demonstrates that thimerosal leads to a high number of false positive skin reactions in dogs and that its use in Montenegro's skin test antigenic preparations should be avoided.
Main Authors: | , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Digital revista |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde
2001
|
Online Access: | http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762001000500017 |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|