Follow-up of Leishmania infantum naturally infected dogs treated with allopurinol: immunofluorescence antibody test, ELISA and Western blot.

Fourteen dogs naturally infected with Leishmania infantum and treated with allopurinol were monitored clinically and serologically with immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT, amastigotes and promastigotes), enzyme linked-immunosorbent-assay (ELISA, IgG1 and IgG2) and Western blotting (WB). In all dogs therapy lead to clinical improvement together with decreasing specific antibodies in IFAT, ELISA and WB, demonstrating the usefulness of serology for follow-up. Although IgG1 and IgG2 varied considerably between individual animals, IgG2 of all dogs was predominantly in both ELISA and WB. This suggests the value of monitoring the IgG2 response (especially against 29 and 67 kDa antigens) in the follow-up of treated dogs.