In recent years, several reports have emphasized the increasing importance of visceral leishmaniasis as an opportunistic infection among HIV-positive patients in areas where both infections are endemic. Major challenges in the treatment of leishmaniasis include widespread resistance to pentavalent antimonial compounds, absence of safe chemotherapeutic agents, and treatment failure and relapses ...

The rK39 test is a serologic assay for the rapid diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Serum from a North American cohort of 59 otherwise asymptomatic soldiers with cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) was tested with the rK39 dipstick and ELISA assays, and 10.2% and 28.8% had positive results, respectively. CL is associated with a reactive rK39 assay result in some patients without clinical eviden...