Effect of rK39 testing in guiding treatment initiation and outcome in patients with visceral leishmaniasis in Ethiopia: A prospective cohort study.

The study shows that a significant proportion of patients with rK39+ results were undertreated. Failure to do microscopy was associated with lack of improved clinical outcome. Including an additional simple point-of-care assay in the diagnostic work-up is urgently needed to correctly identify VL cases and to prevent morbidity and mortality associated with the disease.