[Role of direct agglutination test (DAT) in the diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis in Tunisia].

Direct agglutination test (DAT) is a simple ans economical technique for visceral leishmaniasis diagnosis. An evaluation, held in Tunisia with 41 confirmed visceral leishmaniasis cases and 58 negative controls, showed a sensitivity of 95.1% and a specificity of 96.5%. These results were highly correlated with those of ELISA and fluorescent antibody test. The use of DAT in our country will be very relevant, mainly in district hospitals, where others classical tests are not available. It will also be useful during sero-epidemiological studies on both human and canine visceral leishmaniasis.