ELISA & lepromin skin tests in household contacts of leprosy patients.

A total of 438 household contacts of leprosy patients and 228 non-contacts were studied for anti-PGL-I antibodies and cell mediated immune response to Mycobacterium leprae using ELISA and lepromin tests. The contacts showed relatively higher positivity to ELISA (29.4%) and lepromin (70.5%) as compared to non-contacts who showed 9.6 and 57 per cent positivity. In contacts as well as non-contacts the seropositivity was not found to be influenced by age and sex. However, seropositivity was higher (39.7%) in the contacts of patients with multibacillary leprosy as compared to contacts (27.7%) of patients with paucibacillary leprosy.