Antibody and cytokine levels in visceral leishmaniasis patients with varied parasitemia before, during, and after treatment in patients admitted to Arba Minch General Hospital, southern Ethiopia.

The present results suggest that IL-10, IFN-γ, and TGF-β1 can be used as markers of active visceral leishmaniasis. In addition, measuring circulating cytokines concentrations, particularly IL-10, in combination with other clinical evaluations, could be used as criteria for the cure. The observation that a high serum concentration of IFN-gamma at baseline was associated with low parasitemia deserves further investigations.