Department of Biochemistry, ICMR-National Jalma Institute for Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Clinical Division, ICMR-National Jalma Institute for Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Int J Mycobacteriol. 2023 Jul-Sep;12(3):254-260. doi: 10.4103/ijmy.ijmy_108_23.
Leprosy is a chronic granulomatous infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae or Mycobacterium lepromatosis and mainly affects the skin and peripheral nerves. Although treatable, its early intervention can significantly reduce the occurrence of disability. India accounts for more than half of new cases globally. This study was undertaken to better understand the clinical traits of newly diagnosed cases in a tertiary facility of Western Uttar Pradesh, and a few from Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
The observational prospective study was carried out on all the newly diagnosed leprosy cases who visited the Outpatient Department of ICMR-National JALMA Institute for Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases, Agra, during October 2019-December 2022. After obtaining answers to a prestructured questionnaire with their consent, participants were enrolled in the study and underwent clinical examination and a slit-skin smear test.
A total of 56 cases were investigated, and among them, 20 (35.7%) and 36 (64.3%) women and men, respectively, had positive contact with persons affected by leprosy either within family, friends, or neighbors. It is observed that due to the delayed detection of leprosy cases, paucibacillary (PB) patients converted into multibacillary (MB) patients, and the number of MB cases is much higher compared to PB cases.
Leprosy instances continue to spread frequently from sick to healthy people indicating continued transmission of leprosy in society. Multidrug therapy in the management of leprosy cases is effective; however, early diagnosis of PB cases is still a challenge and needs to be addressed on priority.
麻风病是由麻风分枝杆菌或麻风分枝杆菌引起的慢性肉芽肿性感染，主要影响皮肤和周围神经。虽然可治疗，但早期干预可显著减少残疾的发生。印度占全球新发病例的一半以上。本研究旨在更好地了解西印度北方邦一家三级医疗机构以及来自中央邦和北阿坎德邦的少数新诊断病例的临床特征。
在 2019 年 10 月至 2022 年 12 月期间，对所有前往 ICMR-国家 JALMA 麻风病和其他分枝杆菌病研究所门诊部就诊的新诊断麻风病患者进行了观察性前瞻性研究。在获得他们同意后，通过预结构化问卷回答问题，招募参与者并进行临床检查和皮肤切片检查。
共调查了 56 例病例，其中分别有 20 例（35.7%）和 36 例（64.3%）女性和男性与受麻风病影响的人在家庭、朋友或邻居中有过阳性接触。观察到由于麻风病病例的延迟发现，少菌型（PB）患者转为多菌型（MB）患者，并且 MB 病例的数量明显高于 PB 病例。
麻风病病例继续频繁地从病人传播到健康人，表明麻风病在社会中的持续传播。麻风病病例管理中的多药疗法是有效的；然而，PB 病例的早期诊断仍然是一个挑战，需要优先解决。
