Adnan Menderes Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, İnfeksiyon Hastalıkları ve Klinik Mikrobiyoloji AD, Aydın

Leishmaniasis, a protozoal infection, is still an important public health problem. Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is the fatal form of the disease in the absence of treatment. New non-invasive and accurate tests are being developed in the diagnosis of VL. On the other hand, clinical findings of VL and malaria are similar and this makes the differential diagnosis difficult. Amphotericin-B lipid formulations are being widely used in the treatment of the disease instead of pentavalent antimonials. In this case report; a patient clinically diagnosed as malaria was sent first to malaria clinic. Due to the lack of microscopic visualization of Plasmodium, the patient was referred to our clinic. Immunochromatographic test for rK39 antibodies was found positive. The serum sample contained a high titer (1:512) of anti-Leishmania antibodies in indirect fluorescent antibody test. The definitive diagnosis was based on the microscopic visualization of the amastigote stage of the parasite in bone marrow aspirate. The patient was succesfully treated with pentavalent antimonial (Glucantime®).