A Rare Case Report of Leprous Macrocheilia in Borderline Tuberculoid Leprosy with Type 1 Reaction

It is well known that Mycobacterium leprae tends to target the cooler parts of the body and can involve the oral cavity. Despite this, macrocheilia - a condition where the lips become enlarged - caused by leprosy is rarely documented. There are few reported cases of leprous macrocheilia in India. We present a unique case of an elderly woman with borderline tuberculoid leprosy in type I reaction who developed leprous macrocheilia.

Histoid Leprosy Presenting with Borderline Tuberculoid Leprosy in Type 1 reaction: An Uncommon Shift of Spectrum

Histoid leprosy is an uncommon variant of leprosy with characteristic clinical, immunological and bacteriological features and is considered to be a polar variant of lepromatous leprosy. Coexistence of other immunologically diverse forms of leprosy in histoid end of spectrum is very rare. We report a rare case of histoid leprosy on multi-drug therapy for last 7 months shifting to borderline tuberculoid spectrum in type 1 reaction or Wade’s contamination, spectral shift

Facial Lazarine Leprosy in Post-elimination Era: A Case Report

Despite leprosy being eliminated worldwide, a reasonable number of new cases are encountered in many countries like India. Reactions in leprosy are quite common which contributes significantly to morbidity and disabilities in patients suffering from leprosy. Two types of reactions can occur in leprosy patients depending on host's immune response against Mycobacterium leprae. Lazarine leprosy is a rare ulcerating form of leprosy which is considered as an exaggerated type 1 reaction. We are reporting a case of facial lazarine leprosy in a normal immunocompetent person without any underlying malnutrition. This case presented with infiltrated, oedematous plaque with ulceration and crusting, features which are suggestive of Lazarine leprosy but can also be indicative of severe type 1 reaction. Aggressive nature of the lesion and ulceration were taken into consideration to diagnose this case as Lazarine leprosy.

Is CXCL10/CXCR3 axis overexpression a better indicator of leprosy type 1 reaction than inducible nitric oxide synthase.

Background & objectives: Leprosy type 1 reactions (T1R) are acute episodes of immune exacerbation that are a major cause of inflammation and nerve damage. T1R are diagnosed clinically and supported by histopathology. No laboratory marker is currently available that can accurately predict a T1R. Increased plasma and tissue expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (i-NOS) and chemokine CXCL10 have been demonstrated in T1R. We studied the gene expression and immunoexpression of i-NOS, CXCL10 and its receptor CXCR3 in clinically and histopathologically confirmed patients with T1R and compared with non-reactional leprosy patients to understand which biomarker has better potential in distinguishing reaction from non-reaction. Methods: Gene expression of i-NOS, CXCL10 and CXCR3 was studied in 30 skin biopsies obtained from patients with borderline tuberculoid (BT), mid-borderline (BB) and borderline lepromatous (BL) leprosy with and without T1R by real-time PCR. Further validation was done by immunhistochemical expression on 60 borderline leprosy biopsies with and without T1R. Results: Of the 120 patients histopathological evaluation confirmed T1R in 65 (54.2%) patients. CXCR3 gene expression was significantly (P<0.05) higher in BT- and BB-T1R patients compared to those without T1R. The CXCL10 gene expression was significantly higher (P<0.05) in BB leprosy with T1R but the difference was not significant in patients with BT with or without T1R. Immunoexpression for CXCR3 was significant in both BB-T1R and BB (P<0.001) and BT and BT-T1R (P<0.001). Immunoexpression of CXL10 was significant only in differentiating BB from BB-T1R leprosy (P<0.01) and not the BT cases. i-NOS immunoexpression was not useful in differentiating reactional from non-reactional leprosy. Interpretation & conclusions: Both CXCL10 and CXCR3 appeared to be useful in differentiating T1R reaction in borderline leprosy while CXCR3 alone differentiated BT from BT-T1R. CXCR3 may be a potentially useful immunohistochemical marker to predict an impending T1R.

Type 1 leprosy reversal reaction treated with topical tacrolimus along with systemic corticosteroids.

An 11-year-old black Haitian boy presented with borderline lepromatous leprosy and was treated with rifampicin, dapsone, and clofazimine. After 4 months he developed a severe type 1 reversal reaction without nerve involvement. He was started on prednisolone (1 mg/kg daily). After 4 weeks of treatment with corticosteroids, his condition did not improve and the lesions remained painful. The patient was given a therapeutic trial with twice daily application of topical tacrolimus 0.1% ointment. The result was a dramatic improvement in the skin lesions. The patient's condition was maintained by topical tacrolimus therapy, with healing of all skin lesions. The prednisolone dose was then tapered to zero over a period of 12 weeks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the efficacy of topical tacrolimus in the treatment of type 1 leprosy reaction.

Risk factors for type 1 leprosy reaction in a tertiary skin clinic in Sarawak

Introduction Identifying risk factors for leprosy reactions can preempt clinicians to initiate prompt treatment to prevent associated morbidities. Thus, a retrospective study was done to elucidate the risk factors among 44 newly diagnosed leprosy patients in Sarawak General Hospital from 1993 to 2007. Materials and methods Case folders were searched for demographic data, clinical characteristics, slit skin smear results, and the presence of type 1 leprosy reactions, its treatment and outcome. Analysis was done to determine the relative risks for development of this reaction. Student t test was used for comparison of means. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Results Type 1 reaction was seen in 25% (n=11) of patients. It occurred in 44.4% (n=4) of borderline lepromatous (BL), 33.3% (n=1) of mid borderline (BB), 37.5% (n=3) of borderline tuberculoid (BT) and 30% (n=3) of tuberculoid (TT) patients. Borderline spectrum of disease gave a relative risk of 2 (95% CI 0.3-0.9) and age of 40 gave a relative risk of 1.8 (95% CI 0.3-0.9) for the development of type 1 reaction. Older mean age (mean 53.7 years cf. 37.0 years, p = 0.01) and earlier presentation to health care workers (mean 5.8 months cf. 11.9 months, p = 0.02) was also significant risk factors Extent of disease and gender were not identified as risk factors. Conclusion Risk factors for type 1 leprosy reaction were borderline leprosy, older patients and shorter duration of illness on presentation.

Características da reação tipo 1 e associação com vírus B e C da hepatite na hanseníase / Type 1 reaction in leprosy: characteristics and association with hepatitis B and C viruses

O episódio reacional tipo 1 ou reação reversa é ocorrência inflamatória aguda que atinge a pele e nervos periféricos, encontrada em até 30 por cento dos pacientes com hanseníase, sendo causa comum de incapacidade física. Fatores de risco associados incluem uso de poliquimioterapia e infecções virais. Neste estudo, foram avaliados 620 pacientes com hanseníase. Reação reversa foi diagnosticada em 121 (19,5 por cento) casos, sendo mais freqüente nos indivíduos borderlines (48 por cento). Início da poliquimioterapia foi considerado fator de risco para reação reversa, com 52 por cento dos casos apresentando o primeiro episódio neste momento. Neurite foi documentada em 73 por cento dos casos. A presença de vírus B ou C da hepatite foi documentada em 9 por cento de 55 pacientes com reação reversa e em nenhum dos 57 pacientes sem reação (p = 0, 026; teste exato de Fisher), sugerindo possível papel destes agentes como fatores de risco para desenvolvimento de reação reversa na hanseníase.

Type 1 reaction or reversal reaction is an acute inflammatory episode in the skin and peripheral nerves that is found in up to 30 percent of leprosy patients and commonly causes physical disabilities. Multidrug chemotherapy and viral infections are associated risk factors. In this study, 620 leprosy patients were evaluated. Reversal reactions were diagnosed in 121 cases (19.5 percent) and were most frequently found in borderline patients (48 percent). Starting on multidrug chemotherapy was considered to be a risk factor for reversal reaction: 52 percent of the cases presented their first episode at this time. Neuritis was found in 73 percent of the cases. The presence of hepatitis B or C virus was documented in 9 percent of the 55 patients with reversal reaction, while it was not detected in any of the 57 patients without reaction (p = 0.026, Fisher’s exact test). This suggests that these agents may have a role as risk factors for developing reversal reactions.

A Case of Borderline Tuberculoid Leprosy with Type 1 Reaction / 대한피부과학회지

While leprosy is usually a chronic disease, leprosy reactions may lead to acute problems. These reactions most often occur after initiation of therapy, but can also develop before treatment. We report a case of leprosy type 1 reaction as the first manifestation of borderline tuberculoid leposy. The patient was a 71-year-old woman who had never received treatment for leprosy. She developed multiple erythematous, swollen lesions on has face, extremities and trunk within a few weeks and suffered from paresthesia, numbness and tenderness on those sites. General symptoms were accompanied by fever, malaise, fatigue and loss of appetite. Histological examination revealed multiple tuberculoid granulomas along with neurovascular bundles. A few acid-fast bacilli were detected on AFB stain. The disease was classified as borderline tuberculoid leprosy. The acute neuritis followed by skin lesions represented leprosy with type 1 reaction.