Skin smears in leprosy: is reduction in number of sites justified?

An analysis of 377 sets of positive skin smears of leprosy patients was done to determine the minimum sites needed to detect all smear positive leprosy patients. A combination of earlobe and a selective site could pick up 95.5% of the patients. An additional smear from the forehead increased the sensitivity of 97.7%. The results suggest that the sites for skin smears may be reduced to a combination of the earlobe and one selective site smear from a skin lesion to be able to detect most smear positive leprosy patients.