Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of Children and Adolescents with Leprosy Admitted Over 16 Years at a Rural Hospital in Ethiopia: A Retrospective Analysis.

AIM: To analyse differences in children and adolescents aged ≤18 years admitted to the leprosy ward in a rural Ethiopian hospital >16 years. METHODS: We retrospectively collected data from leprosy admission registry books on patients with leprosy who were admitted to a referral hospital from September 2000 to September 2016. RESULTS: There were 2129 admissions for leprosy during the study period: 180 (8.4%) patients were s ≤ 18 years old. Of these, 98 (54.4%) were male and 82 (45.6%) were female. The proportion of new diagnoses in children and adolescents was 31.7%, significantly higher than in adults (11.7%; p < 0.001). There were also significant differences in the prevalence of lepromatous ulcers (46.9 vs. 61.7%), leprosy reaction (29.4 vs. 13.0%) and neuritis (16.9 vs.5.3%) between these age groups. CONCLUSIONS: There were more new diagnoses, leprosy reactions and neuritis, and fewer lepromatous ulcers, in children and adolescents compared with adults, with younger patients being referred more frequently to reference centres.

Diffuse Multibacillary Leprosy of Lucio and Latapí with Lucio's Phenomenon, Peru.

Diffuse multibacillary leprosy of Lucio and Latapí is mainly reported in Mexico and Central America. We report a case in a 65-year-old man in Peru. He also had Lucio's phenomenon, characterized by vascular thrombosis and invasion of blood vessel walls by leprosy bacilli, causing extensive skin ulcers.

Epidemiology of Leprosy in Spain: The Role of the International Migration.

BACKGROUND: Although incidence of leprosy in Spain has declined steadily over the years, the fivefold increase in immigration since the turn of the century--much of it from countries where leprosy is still prevalent--has been linked to an uptick in registered cases. OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiologic trends of incident leprosy cases detected in Spain among Spanish- and foreign-born population groups. METHODS: Observational, retrospective study of suspected leprosy cases in Spain, as reported through the System of Compulsory Notification of Diseases from 2003 to 2013, with results disaggregated by country of birth. We collected statistical data on leprosy burden for other countries from WHO to estimate the expected number of imported cases. RESULTS: Of the 168 leprosy cases registered during the study period, 40 (24.6%) were in Spanish patients, while 128 (76.2%) were detected in legally resident immigrants. We identified a significantly higher number of imported leprosy cases during the 2008-2010 and 2011-2013 trienniums compared to the reference biennium 2003-2004 (OR 5.38, 95% CI 1.83-14.88 and OR 4.80, 95% CI 1.41-16.33, respectively). Most imported cases were diagnosed in Latin American immigrants (71.9%), especially Brazilians, but also Paraguayans, Bolivians and other nationalities from South and Central America. However, registered incidence was lower than expected for each year. For example, in 2003, the expected new cases in immigrants was 47.12, compared to only four cases that were actually detected (a 91% difference). Likewise, we expected to find 49.6 incident cases among immigrants in 2009, but only 15 new cases were reported (60% fewer than expected). CONCLUSION: Imported cases of leprosy are responsible for most leprosy incidence in Spain, and we cannot rule out some under-diagnosis. Clinicians should be made more aware of the potential for leprosy incidence among patients from countries where the disease is endemic.

Leprosy ulcers in a rural hospital of Ethiopia: pattern of aerobic bacterial isolates and drug sensitivities.

BACKGROUND: Plantar ulcers, which commonly occur in leprosy patients, tend to recur increasing physical disability. The aim of this study is to identify both the bacteriological profile of these ulcers and the antibiotic susceptibility of the isolated bacteria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 68 leprosy patients with chronic ulcers attending the in-patient department of Gambo General Hospital, West Arsi, were included in this study. Proper sample collection, inoculation on culture media, and final identification using biochemical methods were undertaken. RESULTS: 66 patients (97.1%) had a positive culture. A total of 81 microorganisms were isolated. Multiple organisms (two or more) were isolated in 15 (22.7% out of positive culture) patients. The main isolation was Proteus spp (30.9%), followed by Escherichia coli (21.0%), Staphylococcus aureus (18.5%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (9.9%). In the total number of the isolated bacteria, the antibiotics with less resistance were gentamicin (18.5%), fosfomycin (22.2%) cefoxitin (24.7%), ceftriaxone (25.9%) ciprofloxacin (25.9%), and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (28.49%). CONCLUSION: The bacteriological study of plantar ulcers of leprosy patients revealed Enterobacteriaceae and S. aureus as the main pathogens involved in such infections. The results of this study may guide empirical therapy in a rural area hospital where culture and susceptibility testing facilities are scarce.

The burden of leprosy in children and adolescents in rural southern Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Childhood leprosy has an important bearing on the epidemiology of disease and reflects the level of control in a community. There is limited information about this disease in rural Ethiopia. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Data were collected retrospectively from leprosy patient records and treatment cards in a rural mission hospital in southern Ethiopia from 1999 to 2011. RESULTS: Over the 13-year period, 298 patients with leprosy were registered for treatment. Of these, 22 (7.4%) were children (under 15 years) and 66 (21.1%) were adolescents (from 15 to 18 years). The male:female ratio was 2.6:1 in children and 1.7:1 in adolescents. Slit skin examination was positive in eight of 15 (36.4%) child patients and in 26 of 53 (41.3%) adolescents. Multibacillary leprosy was the most common type in both age groups, encountered in 95.5% of children and in 84.1% of adolescents. Six (27.3%) children and 18 (28.6%) adolescents had deformities of the hand, feet or eyes (WHO grade II), detected either at the time of diagnosis or during follow-up. Sixty-one per cent of children were transferred to their health institutions for treatment and follow-up; seven children (38.9%) completed the treatment and one (5.9%) defaulted while on therapy. Of 63 adolescent patients, 31 (49.2%) completed the recommended therapy, 28 (44.4%) were transferred out, and four (6.3%) defaulted on therapy. CONCLUSION: Childhood leprosy continues to be a common problem in rural southern Ethiopia. Multibacillary disease and disabilities remain common in children. Early detection and treatment of cases including the study of contacts should reduce the burden of leprosy in the community.

Gender differential on characteristics and outcome of leprosy patients admitted to a long-term care rural hospital in South-Eastern Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION: In previous studies, women are less aware of causation and symptoms of leprosy and have less access to health care coverage than men, thus contributing to their delay in seeking for treatment. We assess the gender differences in leprosy cases admitted to a rural referral hospital in Ethiopia for 7 and a half years. METHODS: Retrospective data of the leprosy patients admitted to referral hospital were collected using leprosy admission registry books from September 2002 to January 2010. Variables were entered in an Excel 97 database. RESULTS: During the period of study, 839 patients with leprosy were admitted; 541 (64.5%) were male, and 298 (35.6%) female. Fifteen per cent of female patients, and 7.3% of male patients were paucibacillary leprosy cases while 84.8% of female patients and 92.7% of males were multibacillary leprosy cases (p<0.001). Female leprosy patients were younger than male ones (median: 36 versus 44 years) (p<0.001). In the multivariate analysis, age (odds ratio [OR]: 0.97; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.96-0.98; p<0.001), admission for cardiovascular diseases (OR: 7.6, 95% CI: 1.9-29.3; p=0.004), admission for gastroenteritis (OR: 14.0; 95% CI: 1.7-117; p=0.02), admission from out patients clinic (OR: 2.04; 95% CI: 1.1-4.01; p=0.02), and mortality as final outcome (OR: 3.1, 95% CI: 1.2-8.0; p=0.02) were independently associated with female gender. CONCLUSIONS: Female patients with leprosy admitted to hospital were younger, had a different profile of admission and a higher mortality rate than male ones.

Disability profile in leprosy patients' diagnoses in a rural reference leprosy centre in Ethiopia during 1999-2009.

We assessed the epidemiology of disabilities in leprosy cases treated in a rural hospital over a 10-year period. This is a retrospective data collection using leprosy registers and treatment cards in a rural private mission hospital. Over the 10-year period, 210 patients with leprosy were registered for treatment. One hundred and twenty-eight (61.5%) had disabilities (26.0% grade 1 and 35.6% grade 2): 13.5% ocular disabilities, 44.5% disabilities in hands and 44.7% foot impairment. Patients >19 years had more disabilities (66.7% versus 50.7%) (P = 0.03), especially ocular disabilities (16.7% in >20 versus 6.0% in <20 years) (P = 0.03). This study detected a high prevalence of disabilities.

Detección precoz de lepra infantile a tra´ves del entrenamiento de profesores de esucelas primarias: experiencia en un barrio periférico de Cuiabá-Mato Grosso (Brasil) / No disponible

La lepra continúa siendo hoy un problema de Salud Pública muy importante en algunos países, como el Brasil. A pesar de los importantes avances en materia de tratamientos en los últimos 10 años, la inexistencia de un medio diagnóstico que detecte la microbacteria en los estadios iniciales de la enfermedad y la también inexistencia de vacuna eficaz para prevención primaria hacen del tratamiento precoz la única arma de que disponemos para evitar en los posible la aparición de las incapacidades. Por otra parte, la alta 0prevalencia de la lepra en muchos países coexiste con una situación de desamparo social y sanitario, permaneciendo los pacientes en estadios iniciales – en su mayoría niños- lejos de los circuitos habituales de los servicios médicos. Es por ello que los profesores de las escuelas primarias ocupan un lugar destacado en el plan de detección precoz, pues son elementos en constante contacto con los niños, cumpliendo una doble misión: por un lado, siendo agentes multiplicadores de educación sanitaria, enseñando a los alumnos los signos y síntomas precoces de la lepra y modificando actitudes de repulsa hacia los enfermos; por otra parte, profesores entrenados para detectar estos signos precoces serán centinelas “de punta”, detectando con prontitud la aparición de la primera mancha en el niño. El trabajo muestra los resultados de detección de nuevos casos entre los niños de una escuela primaria de un barrio periférico de Cuiaba-Mato Grosso (Brasil) realizada por los propios profesores tras un breve entrenamiento por parte del equipo de atención primaria del barrio (AU)

Leprosy is still a public health problem in several countries in the World including Brazil. Although during the last 10 years there have been important advances in the field of treatment there is still no diagnostic test for early detection or an effective vaccine for primary prevention, so we have to depend entirely on early treatment to prevent possible patient incapacities. On the other hand, the high prevalence of leprosy exists together with social and health needs, so that the patient remains at the early stage of disease (mainly children) able to access the public health services. This is why the teachers at the primary school level have such an important role in early detection since they are in constant contact with the school children carrying on an important double mission: on one hand multiplying health, teaching the children the signs and symptoms of the disease and changing the negative social attitudes towards the affected individuals. So, thee teachers are “first level” guards detecting the first signs of disease. This study presents the results on early case detection in children form the primary school in the neighborhood of Cuiabá-Mato Grosso (Brazil) carried put by the teachers after attending a short training course by the local primary health care team (AU)

Trabajos científicos y colaboraciones. Actualización en tratamiento de la lepra (y II) / No disponible

No disponible

Actualización en tratamiento de la lepra / no disponible

El tratamiento de la lepra ha variado, crecido y mejorado ostensiblemente en los últimos años y ello ha ayudado a eliminar esta enfermedad como problema de Salud Pública en muchos países. Sin embargo, son necesarios aún más estudios para el desarrollo de nuevos tratamientos. La llegada de nuevas drogas al arsenal terapéutico, como el ofloxacino o la minociclian, van sin dudas a reducir el tiempo de tratamiento, así como disminuir la aparición de efectos colaterales frecuentes en los esquemas hasta ahora recomendados. La talidomida, redescubierta en la actualidad como droga muy importante, no sólo para las leprorreacciones sino además para otras muchas patologías con importante componente inmunológico/inflamatorio, es objeto de numerosas investigaciones en la actualidad. Y, sobre todo, reconocer esta enfermedad que es la lepra como la expresión de una complicada – pero cada vez mejor conocida- cascada de acontecimientos inmunológicos, ha abierto un sinfín de nuevas posibilidades en el campo de la terapéutica, los inmunomoduladores, que también desempeñan un importante papel durante los episodios reacciónales, los cuales continúan siendo, a pesar de los avances actuales, el auténtico problema para el paciente bajo tratamiento. Como esta enfermedad infecciosa, la vacuna debe ser al final el objeto de todas las investigaciones, pues con la desaparición de la susceptibilidad de la población, el resto de los tratamientos, si no existen pacientes, poco han de aportar. Nuevas vacunas están haciendo su aparición en el abanico terapéutico de la lepra, de forma aislada o sumadas a los tratamientos por vía oral. Basado en las informaciones de textos de leprología actuales, así como en búsquedas en Internet acerca de investigaciones en curso sobre los nuevos tratamientos, este trabajo intenta mostrar un estudio cuidadoso de los esquemas terapéuticos en la actualidad y de las nuevas posibilidades que están surgiendo en los campos de la Farmacología y la Inmunología

The leprosy treatment has changed, grown and improved especially in the last few years, and this factor has helped to eliminate this disease as a Public Health problema inmany countries. Since the time the leprosy patients were espelled society until our days has improved very much. Although our country still has a big problem, and yet is necessary to do more research to develop new treatments. The introduction of new drugs to the therapeutic “arsenal”, as the ofloxacín or the minocicline, no doubt will reduce the time treatment, as to reduce the appearance of side-effect in the therapeutic plans recommended until now. The thalidomide, rediscovered nowadays as a drug very valued not only for the leprosy reactions as for the many other diseases with a very important immunological component/inflammatory is a target for many recent research. And for all, recognize this disease that is the leprosy as difficult expression but after all better known as an immunological cascade happening has opened many possibilities without an end in the therapeutically area, the immunomodulators, that develop a very important role during the reaction episodes, that continue to be, besides of the modern advances, the real treatment for the patients on treatment. As an infectious disease, the vaccine has to be the main objective of all the research, because with the with draw of the population susceptibility, the rest of the therapeutic if, doesn´t exist one sick, it won´t be necessary to add very much to it. New vaccines are appearing in the therapeutically leprosy cast, alone or together with the oral treatment. Based on the papers information about modern leprosy, as in research in the internet after information about new heading treatments, this paper is willing to show a new synthesized vision of the way followed in pharmacology for the leprosy treatment, studying carefully the therapeutically plans nowadays and showing new possibilities that are being evaluated in the pharmacology and immunology areas

Actualización en tratamiento de la lepra / No disponible

El tratamiento de la lepra ha variado, crecido y mejorado ostensiblemente en los últimos años y ello ha ayudado a eliminar esta enfermedad como problema de Salud Pública en muchos países. Sin embargo, son necesarios aún más estudios para el desarrollo de nuevos tratamientos. La llegada de nuevas drogas al arsenal terapéutico, como el ofloxacino o la minociclian, van sin dudas a reducir el tiempo de tratamiento, así como disminuir la aparición de efectos colaterales frecuentes en los esquemas hasta ahora recomendados. La talidomida, redescubierta en la actualidad como droga muy importante, no sólo para las leprorreacciones sino además para otras muchas patologías con importante componente inmunológico/inflamatorio, es objeto de numerosas investigaciones en la actualidad. Y, sobre todo, reconocer esta enfermedad que es la lepra como la expresión de una complicada – pero cada vez mejor conocida- cascada de acontecimientos inmunológicos, ha abierto un sinfín de nuevas posibilidades en el campo de la terapéutica, los inmunomoduladores, que también desempeñan un importante papel durante los episodios reacciónales, los cuales continúan siendo, a pesar de los avances actuales, el auténtico problema para el paciente bajo tratamiento. Como esta enfermedad infecciosa, la vacuna debe ser al final el objeto de todas las investigaciones, pues con la desaparición de la susceptibilidad de la población, el resto de los tratamientos, si no existen pacientes, poco han de aportar. Nuevas vacunas están haciendo su aparición en el abanico terapéutico de la lepra, de forma aislada o sumadas a los tratamientos por vía oral. Basado en las informaciones de textos de leprología actuales, así como en búsquedas en Internet acerca de investigaciones en curso sobre los nuevos tratamientos, este trabajo intenta mostrar un estudio cuidadoso de los esquemas terapéuticos en la actualidad y de las nuevas posibilidades que están surgiendo en los campos de la Farmacología y la Inmunología (AU)

The leprosy treatment has changed, grown and improved especially in the last few years, and this factor has helped to eliminate this disease as a Public Health problema inmany countries. Since the time the leprosy patients were espelled society until our days has improved very much. Although our country still has a big problem, and yet is necessary to do more research to develop new treatments. The introduction of new drugs to the therapeutic “arsenal”, as the ofloxacín or the minocicline, no doubt will reduce the time treatment, as to reduce the appearance of side-effect in the therapeutic plans recommended until now. The thalidomide, rediscovered nowadays as a drug very valued not only for the leprosy reactions as for the many other diseases with a very important immunological component/inflammatory is a target for many recent research. And for all, recognize this disease that is the leprosy as difficult expression but after all better known as an immunological cascade happening has opened many possibilities without an end in the therapeutically area, the immunomodulators, that develop a very important role during the reaction episodes, that continue to be, besides of the modern advances, the real treatment for the patients on treatment. As an infectious disease, the vaccine has to be the main objective of all the research, because with the with draw of the population susceptibility, the rest of the therapeutic if, doesn´t exist one sick, it won´t be necessary to add very much to it. New vaccines are appearing in the therapeutically leprosy cast, alone or together with the oral treatment. Based on the papers information about modern leprosy, as in research in the internet after information about new heading treatments, this paper is willing to (..) (AU)

Lepra tuberculoide

Desde el año 1991 hasta nuestros días, personal sanitario perteneciente al Sanatorio de Fontilles ha trabajado en proyectos de salud pública, con especial dedicación a patología dermatológica yn lepra, en el Estado de Mato Grosso (Brasil). Se ha trabajado en municipios del nordeste de este estado brasileño (Santa Terezinha, São Félix do Araguaia, Porto Alegre do Norte, Luciara y Alto do Boa Vista) región de muy alta endemia de lepra en brasil. Desde enero de 1991 hasta nuestras fechas fueron diagnosticados y tratados de esta enfermedad 882 personas, 585 hombre y 297 mujeres, 66 pacientes son niños menores de 14 años. Seiscentos veinticuatro pacientes ya fueron tratados según normas da OMS-Fundación Nacional de Saude y dados de lata terapéutica. En estos momentos se encuentran activos y en tratamiento 158 personas. La prevalencia de esta enfermedad en la región supera 45/10.000 habitantes. con esta muestyra, los dos médicos que trabajamos sobre el terreno en estos municipios intentamos recoger nuestra experiencia personal sobre lepra tuberculoide. El número de pacientes diagnosticados de lepra tuberculoide fue de 305, 190 hombre y 115 mujeres, 12 niños menores de 14 años. Doscientsotreinta y dos fueron tratados y dados de alta, en estos momentos existen 36 casos de lepra tuberculoide en tratamiento.