Species-specific PCR assay for detection of Leishmania donovani in clinical samples of kala-azar and post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis

A method of detecting the presence of Leishmania donovani in a sample from a patient suspected of being infected with leishmaniasis, said method comprising the steps of:

• a) providing a sample from the patient suspected of being infected with Leishmania donovani,
• b) isolating and purifying the nucleic acids from the sample,
• c) forming a polymerase chain reaction solution containing at least a portion of nucleic acids from step (b), a PCR primer set consisting of SEQ ID NO:
• 1 and SEQ ID NO:
• 2, a mixture of nucleoside triphosphate monomers, and an enzyme Taq polymerase in a buffered solution,
• d) carrying out a polymerase chain reaction on the PCR reaction solution to amplify any Leishmania donovani-specific nucleic acid;
• and
• e) analyzing the Leishmania donovani-specific nucleic acids obtained in the polymerase chain reaction using a gel-electrophoresis method and staining the resulting gel,
• wherein the presence of a band at about 600 bp is indicative of the presence of Leishmania donovani parasites in the patient.