Emergence of co-infection of visceral leishmaniasis in HIV-positive patients in northeast Iran: a preliminary study.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) serosurvey was carried out on 49 HIV/AIDS patients among 500 asymptomatic HIV/infected patients who registered in the Khorasan Razavi Province during the last 14 years. HIV infections were detected by ELISA and confirmed using western blot assay at the AIDS centre of the Khorasan Razavi Province. All collected sera were screened using the direct agglutination test (DAT). The sera with anti-Leishmania infantum antibodies at a titre of 1:100 were considered positive for VL infection and serum titration was performed from 1:100 to 1:102,400. Nine (18.4%) patients were sero-positive according to DAT. The distribution of sera titrations were as follows: 1:100 (n = 6) 1:1600 (n = 1); 1:25,600 (n = 1) and 1:102,400 (n = 1). All sero-positive cases showed clinical signs and symptoms. The most predominant signs and symptoms of co-infection of visceral leishmaniasis in HIV-positive patients were pneumonia (n = 2), hepatosplenomegaly (n = 2), lymphadenopathy (n = 2), anaemia (n = 1), prolonged fever (n = 1) and cachexia (n = 1). Our finding shows that VL (or kala-azar) is an opportunistic disease in HIV-positive patients that may be occurred in VL endemic areas of Iran.