Influence of climatic changes on "interruptions" and "relapses" in leprosy

ABSTRACT

1. Individual bacteriological records of Culion patients presented to the Negative Committee from 1922 to 1939 were studied to determine the possible influence of the local climatic changes on 163 "interruptions" and 279 "relpases" discovered2. The "interruptions" that occurred in the cool period were 38.1 per cent; 33.7 per cent in the hot period; and 28.2 per cent in the rainy period. In the cool period 38 per cent of the "relapses" occurred; 30.8 per cent in the hot period; and 31.2 per cent in the rainy period3. Considering that the climate in Culion is fairly uniform and without abrupt changes throughout the year, it is believed that the very slight apparent injurious effects of the cool weather on the patients were only accidental rather than real, and that possibly in the Philippines climatic changes play a very small or negligible role in the seasonal aggravation of the disease.(Summary)