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Objective:To analyze epidemiological characteristics of leprosy in China from 2016 to 2020, and to provide a scientific basis for further elimination of leprosy.Methods:Data collation and statistical analysis were conducted on annual reports on leprosy epidemic surveillance in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions) from 2016 to 2020.Results:From 2016 to 2020, a total of 2 697 new cases of leprosy were reported in China, including 46 (1.71%) children, 894 (33.15%) females, 374 (13.87%) floating people, 2 443 (90.58%) multibacillary cases, and 546 (20.24%) cases of grade 2 disabilities. A total of 203 relapsed cases were reported in the meantime. By the end of 2020, there had been 1 893 registered leprosy cases in China, and the number of cases was 68.62% fewer than that in 2010 (6 032 cases) ; there were 36 (1.2%) counties or cities with a prevalence rate above 1 per 100 000, and 72 (17.73%) new cases suffered from grade 2 disabilities.Conclusion:From 2016 to 2020, the reported incidence and prevalence of leprosy in China steadily decreased year by year, and overall, leprosy was still lowly prevalent.
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Objective:To optimize indirect immunofluorescence on salt-split skin (IIF-SSS), and to evaluate its performance in detection of bullous pemphigoid (BP) antibodies.Methods:Normal human foreskin and non-foreskin skin tissues were used to prepare salt-split substrates under 3 different experimental conditions: traditional group rotated at 4 ℃ for 48 - 72 hours, low-temperature immersion group soaked at 4 ℃ for 48 - 72 hours, room-temperature immersion group soaked at 25 ℃ (range: 23 - 27 ℃) for 24 hours. Serum samples were obtained from 20 patients with bullous pemphigoid (BP) in Hospital of Dermatology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences between August 2019 and August 2020, and subjected to IIF on the intact skin or salt-split substrates by using a multiple dilution method. Paired-sample t test was used for comparisons of means between two paired samples. Results:No dermal-epidermal separation was observed in the substrates prepared in the low-temperature immersion group at 48 - 72 hours, while dermal-epidermal separation occurred in the lower lamina lucida of the foreskin and non-foreskin substrates in the room-temperature immersion group and the traditional group. For the 20 patients with BP, the reciprocal end-point titers ( M[ Q1, Q3]) detected with the salt-split non-foreskin skin and salt-split foreskin in the room-temperature immersion group, and with the salt-split non-foreskin skin in the traditional group were 5 120 (2 560, 17 920), 1 280 (640, 2 560), 1 280 (640, 2 560), respectively. Moreover, 19 (95%) patients with BP showed that the reciprocal end-point titers detected with the substrates in the room-temperature immersion group were 1 - 5 times those in the traditional group ( t = 8.04, P<0.001), suggesting that the performance of salt-split skin in the room-temperature immersion group was superior to that in the traditional group in the detection of BP antibodies; however, there was no significant difference in the reciprocal end-point titers of BP antibodies between the salt-split foreskin in the room-temperature immersion group and salt-split non-foreskin skin in the traditional group ( t<0.001, P>0.05). The reciprocal end-point titers in 20 BP sera detected by conventional IIF on the intact non-foreskin skin and foreskin were 320 (160, 640) and 480 (160, 1 120), respectively; the reciprocal end-point titers detected by IIF on the salt-split foreskin and non-foreskin skin in the room-temperature immersion group, as well as on the salt-split non-foreskin skin in the traditional group, were all consistent with or 1 - 7 times higher than those detected by conventional IIF ( t = 6.47, 14.83, 5.26, respectively, all P<0.001) . Conclusion:The soaking method at room temperature 25 ℃ (23 - 27 ℃) for preparing salt-split substrates has advantages of short duration and simple procedure, and the sensitivity of IIF-SSS using the substrates prepared by this method is equal or superior to the traditional salt-split method for detecting BP antibodies.
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Objective To evaluate the effects of group medical visits and peer education on the compliance behaviors of patients with acne vulgaris,and to explore the effective health education approaches for patients with acne vulgaris.Methods A total of 80 patients with acne vulgaris were enrolled from Hospital of Dermatology,Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences during December 2016.They were randomly and equally divided into 2 groups:intervention group receiving conventional health education combined with group medical visits and peer education,and control group receiving conventional health education alone.At week 1,2 and 4 after the intervention,the compliance behaviors were compared between the 2 groups.Results Totally,18 patients were lost to the follow-up due to refusals and non-response,and 32 patients in the intervention group and 30 patients in the control group finally completed the study.At week 1,2 and 4 after the intervention,the scores of compliance behaviors were significantly higher in the intervention group (83.6 ± 9.3,85.9 ± 9.1,91.2 ± 8.4 respectively) than in the control group (77.1 ± 7.3,77.1 ± 8.6,79.1 ± 10.2 respectively;all P ＜ 0.05).Moreover,the scores of compliance behaviors significantly increased over time (P ＜ 0.05),and there was a significant interaction effect between the intervention methods and treatment duration (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Health education approaches including group medical visits and peer education can improve the compliance behaviors of patients with acne vulgaris.
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Objective To analyze the epidemiological features of leprosy in China from 2011 to 2015,and to provide scientific evidences for prevention and treatment strategies.Methods An epidemiological analysis and a trend analysis were conducted based on the national leprosy surveillance data from 2011 to 2015.Results The leprosy detection rate in China decreased from 0.085 per 100 000 in 2011 to 0.049 per 100 000 in 2015,with an average annual decline rate being 12.9％.A total of 4 775 leprosy cases were newly detected during 2011-2015,including 106 (2.2％) children,1 499 (31.4％) females,518 (10.8％) floating people,4 041 (84.6％) multibacillary cases and 1 134 (23.7％) cases with grade 2 disabilities.From 2011 to 2015,328 relapsed cases were reported,including 153 (46.6％) cases recurring after combined chemotherapy.The prevalence rate of leprosy in China decreased from 0.407 per 100 000 in 2011 to 0.235 per 100 000 in 2015,with an average annual decline rate being 12.9％.By the end of 2015,there had been 3 230 registered leprosy cases and 124 counties with a prevalence rate above 1 per 100 000.Conclusions The detection rate and prevalence rate of leprosy in China were both decreasing continuously from 2011 to 2015.The high-epidemic provinces were Yunnan,Guizhou,Sichuan and Guangdong.However,leprosy control in middle-and low-epidemic provinces can not be ignored.
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Objective To investigate the prevalence of urticaria among children aged 2-6 years in Nanjing city.Methods A questionnaire survey was carried out in children aged 2-6 years in 5 main districts of Nanjing City.Results The number of valid questionnaires was 13 610,accounting for 92.8％ of total respondents.Among the 13 610 respondents,1 116 were diagnosed as urticaria,including 565 boys and 551 girls,with the total prevalence rate being 8.54％.No significant difference was observed in the prevalence rate of urticaria between boys and girls (8.49％ vs.8.60％,x2 =0.04,P =0.832) or among children of different age groups (x2 =1.84,P =0.17).The prevalence of urticaria increased with age,and positively correlated with parents' educational level (rs =0.96,P =0.000).Children born in urban areas showed higher prevalence of urticaria than those in rural areas (8.79％ vs.5.56％,x2 =13.98,P =0.000).Conclusions The prevalence of urticaria has increased among children aged 2-6 years in recent years.More studies should be carried out to investigate into the pathogenesis and relevant factors of urticaria,so as to facilitate its prevention and treatment.
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Objective To investigate the prevalence of atopic dermatitis (AD) among children aged 2-6 years in Nanjing city.Methods A questionnaire survey was carried out in children aged 2-6 years in 7 main districts of Nanjing City.Results A total of 13 061 children were investigated,among which,768 were diagnosed as AD,including 410 boys and 358 girls.The prevalence rate of AD was 5.88％ (95％ CI,5.48％-6.28％) in total,6.16％ (95％ CI,5.59％-6.74％) in boys and 5.59％ (95％ CI,5.02％-6.15％) in girls.Higher prevalence rate of AD was observed in boys compared with girls,and in children whose place of birth was in urban areas compared with those in rural areas.In addition,the prevalence rate of AD increased with age and with the rise in parental educational level.Conclusions Rapid economic development has dramatically changed life habits,dietary structure and residential environment of people,which can influence the prevalence of AD.
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ObjectiveTo study the epidemiological characteristics of leprosy in China,2001-2010.MethodsData were collected from the database of the national system of leprosy surveillance.A descriptive and comparative analysis was performed.ResultsTotally,15 507 new leprosy cases were detected from 2001 to 2010 with an average case detection rate of 0.118 per 100 000 population.Among these cases,2.7％ were children under 15 years,86.5％ multibacillary,and 22.5％ suffered from grade 2 disability.From 2001 to 2010,a total of 1506 relapse cases were detected,and relapse occurred after multi-drug therapy(MDT) in 464 of these cases.There were significant differences between low and high endemic areas in the proportion of children under 15 years,females,immigrant patients among newly detected patients as well as the proportion of cases of relapse after MDT among all the relapse cases.By the end of 2010,the registered leprosy cases were 6032 with a prevalence rate of 0.450 per 100 000 population,among whom 2886 were under MDT.ConclusionsThe leprosy case detection rate continued to decrease in China from 2001 to 2010 with an unequal distribution.The pocket areas were in Yunnan province,Guizhou province,Sichuan province,Guangdong province,Hunan province and Tibet Autonomous Region.It is warranted to enhance the control of leprosy and reduce the prevalence of disability due to leprosy.
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Objective To compare the efficacy of uniform multi-drug therapy (UMDT) versus routine multi-drug therapy (RMDT) for the treatment of multi-bacillary (MB) leprosy patients based on bacterial index changes and frequencies of leprosy reaction.Methods This study recruited newly diagnosed leprosy patients after taking informed consent in three districts of Guizhou province as well as in one district of Yunnan province from November 2003 to June 2005.The patients received 6-month UMDT or 2-year RMDT.Clinical follow up and bacterial reexamination were carried out once a year.Changes of bacterial index (BI) and frequencies of leprosy reaction were compared between the patients receiving RMDT and UMDT.Results A total of 166 patients received UMDT and 170 received RMDT in this study.Among the UMDT-treated patients,114 were skin smear positive,and 83 had been followed up for 42 months; of the RMDT-treated patients,149 underwent all the bacterial examinations during a 48-month follow up.The mean bacterial index decreased from 2.84 before treatment to 0.33 at the end of the 42-month follow up in the 83 patients,and from 2.55 to 0.26 at the end of the 48-month follow up in the 149 patients,with no significant difference in the changes of bacterial index between the two groups (t =0.77,P ＞ 0.05).Bacterial index became negative in 73.5％ (61/83) of the UMDT-treated patients and in 77.2％ (115/149) of the RMDT-treated patients (x2 =0.40,P＞ 0.05)at the end of follow up.During the follow up peroid,the incidence of type Ⅰ leprosy reaction was 14.6％ (13/89) in the UMDT group,significantly higher than that in the RMDT group (3.4％ (5/149),x2 =10.08,P＜ 0.01 ).Conclusions There is no significant difference in mean bacterial index changes and bacterial clearance rate during the follow up peroid between UMDT- and RMDT-treated patients.The incidence of type Ⅰ leprosy reaction is higher in the UMDT group than in the RMDT group,and further investigation is needed to clarify the mechanisms underlying the phenomenon.
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Objective To detect gene mutations associated with dapsone-,rifampicin-and ofloxacinresistance in lesions of patients with recurring or treatment-resistant leprosy collected from 2010 to 2011.Methods Clinical data and lesional specimens were collected during 2010-2011 from patients with recurring or treatment-resistant leprosy who were diagnosed and reported by provincial centers for leprosy control.Mycobacterium leprae DNA was extracted from the specimens and subjected to PCR for the amplification of folP1,rpoB and gyrA genes.The PCR products were directly sequenced and BLAST program was used to compare the sequence of isolated strains with the reference sequence in GenBank.Results Twenty-four patients were enrolled in this study,including 13 with recurring leprosy and 11 with treatment-resistant leprosy.Twenty-one patients showed positive PCR results in all the three regions.Of these PCR-positive specimens,3 from 1 patient with recurring and 2 patients with resistant leprosy harbored a point mutation,acc (threonine)→gcc (alanine),at codon 53 in the floP1 gene,1 from a patient with recurring leprosy harbored a missense mutation,gat (aspartic acid) → aac (asparagine),at codon 441 in the rpoB gene.Conclusions Mutations are detected in the folP1 and rpoB genes,which are associated with the resistance to dapsone and rifampicin respectively,but not in the ofloxacin resistance-associated gyrA gene,in Mycobacterium leprae isolates from patients with recurring or treatment-resistant leprosy.
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LECs were carried out from 1998 to 2000 in eight counties of west China. The number of cases detected during the year of LECs was much higher than that detected by routine methods before the year of the LEC. However, the annual number of cases detected during the year after the LEC showed different patterns. One pattern is that the number of new cases detected in the year after the LEC declined to the level similar to that before the year of the LEC. The second pattern is that the number of new cases detected in the year after the LEC declined steeply to less than that detected before the year of the LEC. Following peak case-detection during the year of the LEC, a gradual decrease in the number of new cases was observed in the subsequent years. The repeat LEC brought a weakly rebounding peak case-detection during the year following the first LEC carried out 3 years earlier. The operational, epidemiological and technical factors influencing the trends of case-detection during the LECs are discussed.
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Adult , China/epidemiology , Humans , Leprosy/diagnosisABSTRACT
@#ObjectiveTo approach the status of leprosy disabilities in newly detected cases in recent 11 years in China.MethodsBased upon the records from the National Leprosy Recording and Reporting System in National Center for STD and Leprosy Control, 24128 leprosy cases detected during 1989-1999 in China were analyzed in terms of leprosy disbility.ResultsThe proportion of disabilies in newly detected leprosy cases in 1989 in whole country was 46.49% and decreased to 32.7% in 1999, and the proportions of cases with grade Ⅱ disabilities were 25.55% (1989) and 22.06% (1999). There were 19 provinces where disability rate was more than 40%. Out of patients with disabilities, those with grades Ⅰ and Ⅱ disabilities and with deformities (loss of eyebrow, facial paralysis or saddle nose) accounted for 37.54%, 61.04% and 1.42%, respectively. There were 20 provinces where grade Ⅱ disabilities accounted for more than 50% of all patients with disabilities. The disability rates in patients aged under 15 years, 15-65 years and over 65 years were 24.74%, 39.3% and 53.33%. The patients with a delay in detection of 2 years had a disability rate of 28.95%, and those with a delay of more than 2 years and 5 years had the rates of 48.06% and 60.95%, respectively. The disability rate was 53.76% in patients with leprosy reactions. The grade Ⅱ disability rate in paucibacillary patients (28.53%) was significantly higher than that in multibacillary ones (22.03%). Conclusions Disability rate of leprosy in newly detected cases is still high although it has decreased in the recent 11 years. The rate is associated with delay in detection, leprosy reaction and leprosy type. It suggests that early detection of leprosy patients, regular treatment with multidrug therapy, and management of leprosy reactions will be the effective measures to prevent disabilities of leprosy.
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Objective To study epidemiological and clinical patterns of leprosy in children in China. Methods The data of leprosy in children from 1989 to 1998 in China were analyzed in terms of gender, infection source, detection mode, skin lesion, nerve damage, leprosy reaction, clinical type and skin smear. Results A total of 22 437 leprosy cases were detected during 1989～ 1998, of which 912 (4.1％ ) were child cases (560 males and 352 females). Average delay in detection was 1.13 years (n=909). The main source of infection was close contact within families, accounting for 69.2％ , and majority of cases were detected through active modes. Among children with leprosy, 96.8％ were with skin lesions, 76.0％ with nerve damage, 4.7％ with leprosy reactions, 12.4％ with grade II disability and 41.2％ with positive skin smears. The average proportion of child cases was 4.2％ in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan Provinces, and 1.3％ in Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces. The proportion of child cases was stable in Guizhou and Sichuan Provinces during this period, whereas in 1998 it significantly increased to 11.6％ in Yunnan. Conclusion The present study suggests that proportion of children with leprosy is one of the sensitive indicators of leprosy endemicity. The sources of leprosy infection in children is predominately due to the contact with active cases within families.