An ELlSA test with alkaline phosphatase enzyme conjugate was evaluated to detect antibodies against Leishmania in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis. The conjugate dilution was 1 :10,000, the serum dilution 1 :400 and the optimal antigen concentration 5 pgImL. We analized 163 normal control sera, 31 sera from patients with a diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis confirmed by parasitological methods and 39 sera from patients with Chagas disease. The specificity of the test was 94.6% and its sensitivity 58.1% with optical density values equal or greater than 0.502. Cross-reactiviiy was detected with sera frorn Chagas disease patients. However, the specificity and sensitivity of the test were 83.2% and 83.9%, respectively with OD values equal or greater than 0.314 obtained from normal control sera values. The results of this study suggest that ELlSA might be a useful test in diagnosing cutaneous leishmaniasis in areas where Chagas disease is not endemic, which are very well located in Colombia.