ABSTRACT
Leprosy is a chronic disease of ancient world and is still afflicting patients in many parts of world mainly Asia and Africa. Leprosy is one of the most dreaded diseases of humankind. We wanted to study the various microscopic patterns and subtypes of Leprosy. We also wanted to study the Bacterial Index in the region of Sawangi, Meghe.METHODS80 skin biopsies after adequate fixation in 10% of formalin, were routinely processed and were stained with H and E, Fite-Faraco stain and Modified Rapid Acid-Fast Bacilli (MRAFB staining) method, were studied microscopically and bacterial index was calculated.RESULTSA total of 80 skin biopsies were obtained from patients of department of dermatology over a period of two years from 2017 to 2019. Among them Lepromatous leprosy were 43 cases, Tuberculoid leprosy were 23 cases, Borderline lepromatous leprosy were 09 cases, Borderline tuberculoid leprosy were 03 cases, histoid leprosy were 01 case and ENL were 01 case. With an age range of 6 - 85 years, majority were in 31-40 years of age group, with male to female ratio of 2.47:1. LL was the most common type of leprosy (53.75%).CONCLUSIONSAccurate diagnosis of leprosy purely on clinical grounds is extremely difficult. Hence, there can be false positive and false negative diagnosis. Since histopathology is confirmatory, with application of Fite-Faraco and MRAFB staining it can also evaluate the bacterial load. Hence in all suspected cases of leprosy, histopathology along with Fite-Faraco and MRAFB staining should compulsorily be done.
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Objective @#To analyze the prevalence and influencing factors of leprosy reactions in Zhejiang Province from 2010 to 2019, so as to provide reference for the control of leprosy.@*Methods@#Through the national leprosy management system, the new leprosy cases in Zhejiang Province from 2010 to 2019 were recruited to analyze the incidence of leprosy reactions in different demographic characteristics and leprosy clinical features. The multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore the influencing factors for leprosy reactions.@*Results @#Totally 191 leprosy cases were investigated. The incidence rate of leprosy reactions was 29.32%; the the incidence rate of typeⅠand type Ⅱreaction was 16.75% and 9.42%, respectively. There were 33 leprosy reaction cases (58.93%) before multidrug therapy (MDT) , 13 cases (23.21%) during 0-6 months of MDT, 5 cases (8.93%) during 7-12 months of MDT, 3 cases (5.36%) during over 12 months of MDT, and 2 cases (3.57%) after MDT. The results of the multivariate logistic analysis showed that the cases who were 35 years old or below (OR=2.245, 95%CI: 1.006-5.008) , were not floating population (OR=3.442, 95%CI: 1.394-8.494) , were infected outside family (OR=3.878, 95%CI: 1.075-13.993) and were smear positive (>0+,OR=4.514, 95%CI: 1.365-14.926; >3+,OR=4.727, 95%CI: 1.443-15.485) were risk factors for leprosy reactions.@*Conclusions@#The prevalence of leprosy reactions is high in Zhejiang Province from 2010 to 2019, and is associated with age, floating population, source of infection and BI.
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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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Este estudo avaliou a concordância entre o diagnóstico clínico e o diagnóstico laboratorial da hanseníase, utilizando os resultados de biópsias dos laboratórios A e B e o teste ML-Flow. A concordância diagnóstica clínico-histopatológica foi de 67,6%. Os laboratórios apresentaram um índice de concordância de 73,7% em relação ao índice baciloscópico, e o laboratório B detectou 25,4% a mais de casos positivos. A maior concordância foi obtida para a forma V, e a menor para a forma I. A maior discrepância diagnóstica ocorreu para a forma DD. A concordância clínico-laboratorial foi de 41,3% para o laboratório A e 54% para o B. O teste ML-Flow reclassificou 10,7% dos pacientes. A classificação espectral é importante para o melhor entendimento da doença e para seu tratamento adequado, mas não é utilizada em centros de saúde, que adotam os critérios simplificados da OMS, que poderiam ser complementados pelo teste ML-Flow. Tal simplificação é inaceitável para os Centros de Referência em assistência, ensino e pesquisa em hanseníase, de modo que é recomendada a padronização pela classificação de Ridley-Jopling.
This study examined the correlation between the clinical and laboratory diagnosis of leprosy, using biopsy results from laboratories A and B and the ML Flow test. Clinical and histopathological diagnoses presented 67.6% agreement. The laboratories showed 73.7% agreement in the bacterial index and laboratory B detected 25.4% more positives. The highest agreement was in the LL form and lowest, in the I form. The highest diagnostic discrepancy was for the BB form. Clinical diagnosis agreement was 41.3% for laboratory A and 54% for B. The ML Flow test reclassified 10.7% of the patients. The spectrum of leprosy classification is important for a clearer understanding of the disease and its proper treatment, but is not used in health services, which use the simplified WHO criteria. This could be complemented by ML Flow testing. Such simplification is unacceptable for Leprosy Reference Centers regarding patient attendance, teaching and research, for which the standardization of the Ridley-Jopling classification is recommended.