INTRODUCTION The reported number of new leprosy patients has barely changed in recent years. Thus, additional approaches or modifications to the current standard of passive case detection are needed to interrupt leprosy transmission. Large-scale clinical trials with single dose rifampicin (SDR) given as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to contacts of newly diagnosed patients with leprosy have sh...

We describe a rapid, simple, and reliable procedure for routine isolation of Mycobacterium leprae DNA from slit-skin swab specimens. This one-step DNA extraction method is based on the utilization of ChelexR 100, a chelating ion exchange resin. Slit-skin swab specimens from seven untreated leprosy patients at Baba Baghi Leprosy Hospital in Iran were processed by this procedure. The polymer...

A routine mammogram identified changes thought to be due a lymph node, which was confirmed on biopsy. The node infiltrated with macrophages and showed fragmented acid-fast bacilli. patient had been treated for leprosy some years before still taking thalidomide erythema nodosum leprosum. Leprosy-associated lymphadenopathy may breast screening.

After the declaration of Elimination of leprosy in 2005, attention to leprosy has gradually diminished. In the last 10 years the leprosy scenario has not shown the improvement that was expected in the post elimination era the number of new cases each year show no significant decline, and the complications of leprosy continue to cause disability and deformity which leads thousands to dehabilitat...

Four hundred and sixty-seven male patients with leprosy were screened for genital involvement. Genital lesions were observed in 6.6% of all male cases of leprosy. They were seen most frequently in lepromatous leprosy (25.8%), followed by borderline lepromatous (13.3%) and borderline tuberculoid (1.4%) leprosy.

OBJECTIVE To analyse the leprosy epidemiological trends and the diagnostic delay in newly detected cases between 1990 and 2004 in Wuhan. METHODS We reviewed the clinical records of all 80 leprosy patients who were referred to the Wuhan Institute of Dermatology and Venerology (WHIDV) during 1990 and 2004, and the clinical information of diagnosis-delayed cases was analysed. RESULTS Patients ...

BACKGROUND Leprosy is characterized histologically by a spectrum of different granulomatous skin lesions, reflecting patients' immune responses to Mycobacterium leprae. Although CD4+CD25+ FoxP3+ T regulatory cells are pivotal in the immuneregulation, presence, frequency, and distribution of Tregs in leprosy, its reactional states have been investigated in few studies. OBJECTIVES This study ai...

OBJECTIVES To verify the frequency of oral and facial involvement in diagnosed leprosy patients. STUDY DESIGN This study was performed on 100 leprosy patients (62 male, 38 female, mean ages 51.86±6.1). After explaining the study design, we studied descriptive information including: patient' s sex, age, job, place of birth, familial history of leprosy, types of disease (lepromatous, borderline...

BACKGROUND The clinical spectrum of leprosy is dependent on the host immune response against Mycobacterium leprae or the newly discovered Mycobacterium lepromatosis antigen. Helminth infections have been shown to affect the development of several diseases through immune regulation and thus may play a role in the clinical manifestations of leprosy and leprosy reactions. The purpose of this study...

BACKGROUND In the Netherlands, leprosy is a rare and non-endemic disease, still occurring as an 'import disease'. Moreover a considerable group of people affected by leprosy, originating mainly from the former Dutch colonies, suffer from neuropathic complications. This study investigates the social implications of leprosy for those affected in the Netherlands. METHODS Thirty-one people affect...