Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of XXXX and their relationship with the laboratory data, south of Brazil.

@entity1 @entity4536 @entity272
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate clinical, epidemiological and laboratorial aspects for the understanding of the disease characteristics and its relationship with diagnostic tests. METHODS: A retrospective, descriptive and analytical study involving 2,660 American @entity4536 (ACL) suspected @entity1 from southern Brazil was undertaken between April 1986 and December 2005. Data on population characteristics and laboratory tests were obtained. Diagnostic laboratory tests used were direct search for Leishmania spp. (DS), @entity272 ( @entity272 ) and indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA). RESULTS: 62.3% of @entity1 were positive for at least one laboratory test. DS test was positive in 65.1%; @entity272 in 92.3% and IFA in 70.0%. Although Cohen's Kappa test did not reveal any agreement with laboratory diagnosis for ACL, the association between @entity272 and IFA tests increased positiveness to 98.9%; @entity272 and DS to 97.2%; and IFA and DS to 85%. IFA and @entity272 positiveness were higher among @entity1 with < 2-month lesion-evolution time. Most ACL @entity1 were male (72.6%) in the age range of 15-49 years, featuring lesions during two months or less (53.9%) and a cutaneous form of the disease (88.0%). CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that for the adequate identification of ACL cases a combination of laboratory tests that involves the association of @entity272 with at least another test should be used.
