What is the montenegro test for leishmania?

Answer 1

MONTENEGRO TEST is a name given to a procedure that intends to determine;

1.If a patient was previously exposed to any strain of leiashmania ie.this might help to suggest a proper therapy

2.If the patient is having either CHRONIC or ACUTE Leishmaniasis or if is having leishmaniasis at all since some patients are assymptomatic

The procedure is also called LEISHMANIN TEST and was discovered by a group of scientists who conducted the tests in a region called KEANA in Nigeria.

MECHANISM OF THE PROCEDURE.

It manipulates delayed hpersensitivity reaction as its basis of determination.When i say delayed hypersensitivity reaction i mean the reaction of body defense cells against a foreign antigen when it enters the body which normally takes time[delayed] to form an induration[a hardness/compact substance] that can be seen as indicator of the reaction by man.

NB;An induration will only form if the antibodies for that antigen was already present in the body and thats why i previously sayed,the test is used to determine if the patient was previously exposed to any strain of the disease.

Incase of LEISHMANIA,leshmanin[antigen prepared by deeping 0.1ml/1million of leishmania in 0.5% phenol] is intradermally injected into the skin ie.normally of the forearm.The following results are expected;

1.If an induration forms it means the patient had been previously exposed to the strain thus the results are termed positive[normally an induration of 5mm in diameter is formed after 2(48hrs)-3(72hrs)DAYS]

2.If it doesnt occur it means the test is negative ie.VISCERAL LEISHMANIASIS the test is always negative untill late stages of recoverly so there is no point of testing it.So this strictly means MONTENEGRO TEST IS FOR CUTENEOUS LEISHMANIASIS TESTING.

TO DETERMINE WETHER THE DISEASE IS ACUTE OR CHRONIC.

An injection of leishmanin is made at the site of the lesion and at the forearm,and the results of appearence of an induration are compared.If results are the same it means the CL IS ACUTE.

Answered by,

SIMON BONDER OBETH MWASAMBUNGU,

MUHIMBILI UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH AND ALLIED SCIENCES