An 8-12 year follow-up of highly bacillated Indian leprosy patients treated with WHO multi-drug therapy.

OBJECTIVES

To follow up highly bacillated leprosy patients for a long period after release from treatment (RFT) and to look out for possibility of relapses.

RESULTS

660 patients with an initial bacterial positivity of 4 +, 5 + or 6 + who had undergone WHO multi-drug therapy and released from treatment, were followed up. The regularity of their treatment was kept high by close monitoring with home visits. They were reviewed twice, once 4 to 9 years after RFT and again 7 to 12 years after RFT. 516 patients were available in the second review. As per WHO definition, 5 patients were found to have relapsed, giving a relapse rate of 0.103 per 100 person years. This low relapse rate could be due to high regularity of treatment.

CONCLUSION

With well supervised MDT and high regularity of treatment and proper consumption of drugs, relapse rate is very low.