Evaluation of the adjuvanticity of artemisinin with soluble Leishmania major antigens in BALB/c mice

Objective： To determine the adjuvant potential of artemisinin with a soluble leishmanial antigen in vaccinating BALB/c mice. Methods： Seventy two female BALB/c mice were randomly assigned into six groups. The mice were vaccinated with soluble Leishmania antigens （SLA） alone, artemisinin co-administered with SLA, SLA and Bacille Calmette Gu fin （BCG） vaccine, and artemisinin and BCG alone. Unvaccinated mice formed the control group. The induction of cell-mediated immunity following vaccination was determined by measuring in vitro lymphocyte proliferation and the production of interleukin （IL）-4, IL-5 and gamma interferon （IFN-γ） determined by flow cytometry. Protection against L. major was determined by quantifying parasite burdens in L. major infected footpads using a limiting dilution assay and by measuring lesion sizes of the infected footpad compared to the contralateral uninfected footpad. Results： Mice receiving SLA plus artemisinin produced significantly high levels of IL-4 and IL-5 （P 〈 0.05） and low levels of IFN-γ, resulting in exacerbated disease. In addition, subcutaneous administration of SLA ＋ artemisinin, artemisinin alone or SLA alone resulted in the development of large footpad swellings and high parasite loads that were comparable to those of the control unvaccinated mice （P 〉 0.05）, resulting in exacerbated disease. Conclusion： These data suggest that artemisinin is not a suitable adjuvant for Leishmania vaccines. However, since artemisinin has been shown to be effective against Leishmania parasites in vitro and in vivo, further studies ought to be conducted to determine its immunochemotherapeutic potential when co-administered with Leishmania antigens.

Evaluation of the immunochromatographic strip test for the rapid diagnosis of antenatal syphilis in women in Eldoret,Kenya

Objective： This study compared the performance of the immunochromatographic strip （ICS） to the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory （VDRL） test and Treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay （TPHA） at a primary health care setting. Methods： The study group was comprised of 150 females randomly drawn from a population of pregnant women attending their first antenatal visit or follow-up visits at West Maternity Hospital in Eldoret Kenya, but without a previous syphilis test during that pregnancy. On-site VDRL, ICS and TPHA tests were performed and immediate treatment provided where appropriate. The performance of the three tests was compared, Results： The sero-prevalence of syphilis as determined by the VDRL test was 3%. There was no significant difference between the ICS and the VDRL test （P 〉 0.05）. The sensitivity and specificity of the ICS test were 80% and 98.6% respectively, while the negative predictive value （NPV） and positive predictive value （PPV） were both 100%. On the other hand, the sensitivity and specificity of the VDRL test were 66.7% and 99.3%, while the NPV and PPV were 80% and 98.6% respectively. The Treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay was used as a reference test and had sensitivity, specificity, NPV and PPV of 100%. Conclusion： The diagnostic accuracy of the ICS compared favorably with theVDRL gold standard. The use of the ICS in Kenya can improve the diagnosis of syphilis in health facilities both with and without laboratories and allow community health care workers to make a rapid diagnosis of the disease, and consequently make immediate therapeutic decisions.