Morales, Miguel ÁngelCruz, IsraelRubio Muñoz, Jose MiguelChicharro, CarmenCañavate, CarmenLaguna, FernandoAlvar, Jorge2024-02-052024-02-052002-05-15J Infect Dis. 2002 May 15;185(10):1533-7.0022-1899http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12105/17459Presented in part: WORLDleish2, Hersonissos, Crete, Greece, 20–24 May 2001, (abstract P191)In the Mediterranean basin, Leishmania infantum is a major opportunistic parasite in people with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and up to 9% of the patients with AIDS suffer from newly acquired or reactivated visceral leishmaniasis. Distinguishing between reinfections and relapses in these patients is important because some apparent treatment failures occur in patients with new rather than reactivated infections. Isoenzyme characterization is limited for use in determining relapsed versus newly acquired leishmaniasis in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients because of the variability of L. infantum and the predominance of the MON-1 zymodeme in people coinfected with HIV. A seminested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify L. infantum minicircle kinetoplast DNA, and, after digestion, the restriction fragment-length polymorphism (RFLP) profiles showed that 3 (7.5%) of 40 patients coinfected with L. infantum and HIV had a new infection, whereas isoenzyme characterization indicated that all 40 patients had infection relapses. These results suggest the utility of this PCR-RFLP analysis in detecting leishmaniasis reinfection in HIV-positive patients.engVoRhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/AnimalsComorbidityDNA, KinetoplastDiagnosis, DifferentialHIV InfectionsHumansLeishmania infantumLeishmaniasis, VisceralPolymerase Chain ReactionPolymorphism, Restriction Fragment LengthRecurrenceSpainAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional11992294185101533-153710.1086/340219The Journal of infectious diseasesopen access