Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology, Government Medical College, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Department of Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol. 2020 Mar-Apr;86(2):141-149. doi: 10.4103/ijdvl.IJDVL_377_18.
Leprosy was declared to be eliminated from India in 2006, but recent reports point to an increase in newly detected cases despite the overall fall in prevalence.
This study aimed to analyze the patterns and trends of epidemiological and operational indicators of leprosy at a tertiary care center in northern India over a decade.
This is a 10-year retrospective study from 2005 to 2014 conducted at the urban leprosy centre (ULC) of the Department of Dermatology, Venereology, and Leprology, Government Medical College, Jammu (J and K), India. Data were obtained from the preformatted standard leprosy cards of the urban leprosy centre. Details of demographic data, clinical features, smear results and treatment received were collected from individual cards and analyzed to observe various epidemiological trends.
A total of 743 cases were analyzed for the period 2005-2014, of which 8.6% were childhood cases, 52.5% patients were immigrants, and 56.4% were farmers and laborers. Lepromatous cases showed a significantly increasing trend when compared with tuberculoid cases (P < 0.05). Smear positivity was seen in 29.6% of cases and showed an increasing trend (P < 0.05). An important observation was the increase in multibacillary cases. World Health Organization (WHO) grade 2 disability also showed an increasing trend over the past decade pointing to delayed diagnosis.
The study is limited by its retrospective design.
The increasing trend of lepromatous and multibacillary cases and cases with grade 2 disability is a poor sign as it indicates delays in diagnosis. Further, smear-positive cases contribute to continued transmission of disease in the community. Leprosy has been declared to be eliminated, but recent reports including the present study suggest a rise in newly detected cases and hence in disease burden.
2006 年印度宣布消灭麻风病，但最近的报告指出，尽管患病率总体下降，但新发现的病例仍在增加。
本研究旨在分析印度北部一家三级护理中心 10 年来麻风病的流行病学和操作指标模式和趋势。
这是一项回顾性研究，从 2005 年至 2014 年在印度查谟（J 和 K）政府医学院皮肤科、性病学和麻风病系的城市麻风病中心（ULC）进行。数据来自城市麻风病中心的格式化标准麻风病卡。从个人卡片中收集人口统计学数据、临床特征、涂片结果和接受的治疗详细信息，并进行分析以观察各种流行病学趋势。
对 2005 年至 2014 年期间的 743 例进行了分析，其中 8.6%为儿童病例，52.5%为移民，56.4%为农民和工人。与结核样病例相比，麻风病例呈明显上升趋势（P<0.05）。涂片阳性率为 29.6%，呈上升趋势（P<0.05）。一个重要的观察结果是多菌型病例的增加。世界卫生组织（WHO）二级残疾在过去十年中也呈上升趋势，表明诊断延迟。
该研究受到其回顾性设计的限制。
麻风病的麻风病例和多菌型病例以及二级残疾病例的增加趋势是一个不好的迹象，表明诊断延迟。此外，涂片阳性病例导致疾病在社区中的持续传播。麻风病已宣布被消灭，但最近的报告，包括本研究报告，表明新发现的病例有所增加，因此疾病负担也有所增加。
