Response to Brandão-Filho and Shaw: Molecular markers for Leishmania diagnosis

Abstract

PCR has been used for Leishmania detection in domestic and/or sylvatic hosts to identify its reservoirs. A better understanding of reservoir infection and dynamics of the Leishmania transmission cycle is essential for designing control strategies. Currently, the molecular targets for diagnosing Leishmania species using PCR include the minicircle kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), rDNA, the miniexon (spliced leader RNA) gene and the gene encoding glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, among others. Several groups have developed primers that can be used to detect Leishmania at the levels of either subgenus or complex [1,2].