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.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Paranhos-Silva,Moacir, Pontes-de-Carvalho,Lain C, Oliveira,Geraldo G de Sá, Nascimento,Eliane Góes, dos-Santos,Washington LC
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
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