Division of General Dermatology, Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2012 Aug;26(8):999-1006. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-3083.2011.04201.x. Epub 2011 Aug 11.
Leprosy is far from being eliminated with more than 200,000 new cases detected (NCD)/year.
Retrospective analysis between 2003 and 2009 to compare the New Case Detected Rate (NCDR) observed in Italy in the immigrant population with the NCDR of the same population in their country of origin to verify if the cases observed are those expected or not.
Leprosy statistics were retrieved from the Italian leprosy register and from official WHO data.
The NCD in Italy were lower than expected, from 2003 when the expected number of NCD was 40.5 between the legally resident immigrants, but only one case was diagnosed (98% of lower from the expected), to 2009 when four NCD were diagnosed and 41 were expected (90% lower from expected).
This study points out a discrepancy between the observed and the expected cases of leprosy in Italy. Specifically, the number of NCD was less than expected for each studied year. Of course our data do not represent a validation, but only an indication of the leprosy diagnosis in Italy. Difficulty in accessing the health systems, fear of segregation, ignorance and illegal immigrant status with consequent fear of police arrest are possible explaining factors. The critical issue anyhow is the medical expertise. The role of the dermatologist is fundamental. For these reasons, there is still a need for wide spread leprosy teaching programmes. Although with few limitations, this study represents a first approach to validate the accuracy in leprosy diagnosis in Italy.
尽管每年发现超过 20 万例新病例（NCD），麻风病仍远未被消除。
对 2003 年至 2009 年的数据进行回顾性分析，比较意大利移民人群中的新病例检出率（NCDR）与原籍国同一人群的 NCDR，以验证观察到的病例是否符合预期。
从意大利麻风病登记处和世界卫生组织（WHO）的官方数据中检索麻风病统计数据。
意大利的新病例检出率（NCD）低于预期，从 2003 年开始，合法居住的移民中预计的 NCD 数为 40.5 例，但仅诊断出一例（比预期低 98%），到 2009 年，诊断出 4 例 NCD，预计有 41 例（比预期低 90%）。
本研究指出意大利麻风病观察病例与预期病例之间存在差异。具体来说，每个研究年份的新病例检出率都低于预期。当然，我们的数据并不代表验证，而只是意大利麻风病诊断的一个指示。可能的解释因素包括难以获得卫生系统、对隔离的恐惧、无知和非法移民身份以及随之而来的对警察逮捕的恐惧。无论如何，关键问题是医疗专业知识。皮肤科医生的作用至关重要。出于这些原因，仍需要广泛开展麻风病教学计划。尽管存在一些局限性，但本研究代表了对意大利麻风病诊断准确性进行验证的初步尝试。
