Leprosy situation in the slums of Agra City--epidemiological findings.

The present article is the result of a study of the leprosy caseload in Agra City and is based on a house-to-house survey conducted during April-July 2003 in 5 areas. During the survey 198,150 persons were examined, and 287 cases were detected, giving a prevalence rate of 14.5/10,000. A majority of them (92%) were new cases, detected and diagnosed for the first time. The patient load was found to be unevenly distributed with comparatively more number of patients in areas such as Jamuna Kinara, Shah Ganj and Lohamandi. Among the 264 newly detected cases, 14.8% were of MB type. Overall deformity of grade > or = 2 was seen in 2.8% of patients--0.4% in PB and significantly high at 18% in MB leprosy. The observations reveal that leprosy is endemic in slum areas of Agra City.