Visceral Leishmaniasis: A Case Confirmed by Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing from Northwestern China

Ente Li; Qingfeng Zhu; Ziman Lv; Songsong Xie; Chunju Zhang; Wei Li; Ligu Mi; Quan Liu; Yuanzhi Wang; Xiaobo Lu

doi:10.2147/IDR.S472172

Visceral Leishmaniasis: A Case Confirmed by Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing from Northwestern China

Infect Drug Resist. 2024 Jul 18:17:3153-3158. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S472172. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Ente Li^#^{1

2}, Qingfeng Zhu^#³, Ziman Lv^#^{1

2}, Songsong Xie³, Chunju Zhang⁴, Wei Li⁵, Ligu Mi^{1

2}, Quan Liu⁶, Yuanzhi Wang^{1

2}, Xiaobo Lu²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Basic Medicine, School of Medicine, Shihezi University, Shihezi City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 832002, People's Republic of China.
² Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Public Health Security, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Shihezi University, Shihezi City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 832002, People's Republic of China.
³ The First Affiliated Hospital of Shihezi University Medical College, Shihezi City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 832002, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Tumxuk Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Tumxuk City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 843806, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Department of Basic Medicine, School of Medicine, Tarim University, Alaer City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 843300, People's Republic of China.
⁶ Department of Infectious Diseases and Center of Infectious Diseases and Pathogen Biology, Key Laboratory of Organ Regeneration and Transplantation of the Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Zoonotic Diseases, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun City, Jilin Province, 30061, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as kala-azar. It is characterized by prolonged intermittent fever, anemia, splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, and skin darkening. VL is primarily endemic in regions, such as Brazil, East Africa, and India. However, Northern Xinjiang, which is located in northwestern China, is considered a low-incidence area for VL, contributing to its status as a neglected infectious disease. In this report, we present a case of VL caused by Leishmania donovani that was diagnosed using metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS). This case underscores the diagnostic value of mNGS, particularly in regions with low incidence of VL.

Keywords: Leishmania donovani; Visceral leishmaniasis; metagenomic next-generation sequencing; northwestern China.

Publication types

Case Reports

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Key project of Natural Science Foundation of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (2022B03014), National Key Research & Development Program of China (2022YFC2304000), National Natural Science Foundation of China (82260410, 82260414 and 82260399), Scientific and Technological Projects in Key Areas of the Corps (2022AB014), High-Level Talent Initiative Foundation of Shihezi University (RCZK202369).