[Peripheral blood culture as a diagnostic modality for visceral leishmaniasis: apropos of 61 cases]. / La culture du sang peripherique comme moyen diagnostique de la Leishmaniose viscerale: a propos de 61 cas.

The purpose of this prospective study was to assess the efficacy of culture of peripheral blood samples on NNN medium for detecting Leishmania. A total of 61 peripheral venous blood samples were tested. Most samples were collected from immunocompetent children presenting visceral leishmaniasis. The sensitivity of peripheral blood culture was 61%. Concordance with conventional bone marrow culture was good but the marrow technique was quicker. Since it is minimally invasive and easy to perform, peripheral blood culture is an attractive diagnostic alternative in immunocompetent patients. In addition peripheral blood culture presents a major epidemiological advantage in allowing identification of the causative strain of Leishmania if bone marrow culture was not performed for isoenzymatic characterization.

[Visceral leishmaniasis in immunocompetent children: diagnostic and epidemiologic value of peripheral leishmania blood culture]. / La leishmaniose viscérale, de l'enfant immunocompétent: intérêt diagnostique et épidémiologique de la recherche des leishmanies par culture du sang périphérique.

Utilisation of new diagnosis means and particularly non invasive oues in visceral leishmaniasis can be very valuable for the biologist, the clinician as well as the patient. In this, detection of leishmania in peripheral blood, well know for VIH patients, has been applied to 37 immunocompetent tunisan children suffering from kala azar that has been shown through direct examination of bone marrow. Observed results show that culture on NNN peripheral blood medium was positive in 25 cases (67.57%). On the other side, detection of leishmania through concomitant culture of blood and marrow bone for 24 children with visceral leishmaniasis match the results in 75% of the cases. Detection of leishmania by mean of blood culture for immunocompetent children is a diagnosis mean of visceral leishmaniasis and has also an epidemiologic utility by isoenzymatic characterization of isolated leishmania strains.

[Role of cryptosporidia and microsporidia in diarrhea in immunocompromised patients]. / Place des cryptosporidies et des microsporidies dans les diarrhees des immunodeprimes.

Cryptosporidium and Microsporidian play an important part in the diarrhoeic pathology of the immunocompromised patients. The study of 35 cases of cryptosporidiosis and 4 cases of intestinal microsporidiosis diagnosed in the parasitology laboratory of Rabta hospital of Tunis shows that cryptosporidiosis prevalence is 17.24% for AIDS patients, 3.45% for immunocompromised patients VIH (-), and microsporidiosis prevalence is 5.7% for patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Common points for these two parasitosis are: Clinical syndromes dominated by an acute diarrhea A diagnosis based on specific techniques showing the significance of the clinical orientation. Lack of an effective specific therapy.