The detection of Leishmania

braziliensis DNA in American tegumentary leishmaniasis patients Diagnostic tests for American tegumentary leishmaniasis were performed on blood samples of patients living in two endemic municipalities in the state of Pernambuco, Northeastern Brazil. DNA was extracted from 119 samples and used as template for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. The tests used primers specifi c for the kinetoplast mini-circle DNA (kDNA) of Leishmania braziliensis, a species circulating in Pernambuco, which amplify a 750 base pair target sequence. In total, 58 subjects (48.7%) showed positive PCR amplifi cation and 61 (51.3%) were negative. Of the PCR-positive samples, 37 (≅64%) were from treated, lesion-free subjects. In conclusion, the PCR technique is effi cacious at identifying Leishmania DNA in biopsy and venous blood samples