Lepromatous leprosy: An Unusual Presentation.

A 25 year old man presented with loss of sensations over both hands and feet and extreme difficulty in passing urine. On examination, an indurated sclerotic plaque was present on shaft of penis and scrotum in addition to other features of lepromatous leprosy. Skin biopsy from the penile lesion showed presence of a large number of acid fast bacilli with a BI of 6+ extending into the epidermis and histopathology showed absence of Grenz zone and presence of foamy macrophages in the dermis up to the dermo-epidermal junction.

Adverse reactions to cosmetics.

Adverse reaction to cosmetics constitute a small but significant number of cases of contact dermatitis with varied appearances. These can present as contact allergic dermatitis, photodermatitis, contact irritant dermatitis, contact urticaria, hypopigmentation, hyperpigmentation or depigmentation, hair and nail breakage. Fifty patients were included for the study to assess the role of commonly used cosmetics in causing adverse reactions. It was found that hair dyes, lipsticks and surprisingly shaving creams caused more reaction as compared to other cosmetics. Overall incidence of contact allergic dermatitis seen was 3.3% with patients own cosmetics. Patch testing was also done with the basic ingredients and showed positive results in few cases where casual link could be established. It is recommended that labeling of the cosmetics should be done to help the dermatologists and the patients to identify the causative allergen in cosmetic preparation.

Nevomelanocytic nevus with leukotrichia.

Nevomelanocytic nevi exhibit clinical variations in morphology, location, texture and number related to age, race and geographical distribution. Development of age related greying of hair over pigmented melanocytic nevus is being discussed.

Basal cell carcinoma--treatment with cryosurgery.

Basal cell carcinoma is a common cutaneous malignancy, frequently occurring over the face in elderly individuals. Various therapeutic modalities are available to treat these tumors. We describe three patients with basal cell carcinoma successfully treated with cryosurgery and discuss the indications and the use of this treatment modality for basal cell carcinomas.

Intralesional steroid induced histological changes in the skin.

Intralesional steroids are commonly used in dermatology. Besides their strong anti-inflammatory effects, the long acting steroids and other preservative agents may induce interesting histopathological changes, which may simulate focal mucinosis or a granulomatous pathology. A variety of histopathological changes induced by Intralesional injection of steroid in a lesion of keloid are being described.

Urticarial vasculitis in infancy.

Urticarial vasculitis is an uncommon manifestation of cutaneous vasculitis closely resembling chronic urticaria. It is an immune complex deposition disorder, which is not commonly observed in children. We report an 9-month-old infant with urticarial vasculitis and discuss its clinical course and differentiation from common urticaria.

Alterations in early biochemical events following T cell activation in leprosy patients.

The early events of activation and cytokine profiles (IL-2, 4, and 6) were studied in lymphocytes of paucibacillary (TT/BT) and multibacillary (BL/LL) leprosy patients after stimulation with PMA/A23187 and Mycobacterium leprae antigen (PGL-1). Lymphocytes from BT/TT patients showed proliferation in response to both PMA/A23187 and PGL-1 compared to BL/LL. The levels of early activation signaling molecules such as IP3, calcium, and protein kinase C (PKC) in the particulate fraction were found to be elevated in BT/TT and BL/LL patients and showed a further significant increase after stimulation with PMA/A23187 in BT/TT patients. PGL-1 marginally increased the IP3 levels in BT/TT patients, whereas in BL/LL patients, it had no effect. The levels of IL-2 were enhanced in lymphocytes of BT/TT leprosy patients and were further augmented by PPD and PGL-1, while the levels of IL-4 and IL-6 were increased in LL/BL lymphocytes and further augmented by PGL-1. Thus PGL-1 seems to be a major culprit in inducing the TH2-type cytokine response observed in lepromatous leprosy patients.

Urinary excretion of renal brush border membrane enzymes in leprosy patients--effect of multidrug therapy.

Renal function at the brush border membrane level has been studied using characteristic enzymes, such as alkaline phosphatase, leucine-aminopeptidase and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase. Urinary enzyme studies were performed using leprosy patients, classified on the basis of bacteriological index (BI>3; n=20, BI<3; n=12, BI-ve; n=10) and compared with control subjects (n=10). The role of enzymuria in monitoring WHO-recommended multidrug therapy (MDT) has been evaluated in these patients. A significant increase in the enzyme activities (p<0.01), as well as significant (p<0.01) proteinurea in 24-hour urine samples of both the smear positive groups (BI>3, BI<3) prior to therapy compared to control subjects, indicates proximal tubular functional impairment at brush border membrane level. In the smear negative (BI-ve) group, no significant difference was observed in enzyme activities as compared with the control group. In a follow-up study (BI>3;n=13, BI<3; n=4) the activities of all the enzymes decreased significantly in all the groups when compared to a corresponding untreated group. The follow-up study was not carried out on the smear negative group. The surprising finding was the differential behaviour of r-glutamyl transpeptidase, whose activity increased significantly (p<0.01) even after therapy in BI>3 group when compared with untreated patients. However in a detailed work-up including hepatic and renal function tests, the serum biochemistry was found to be normal both before and after therapy. Urinary excretion of brush border enzymes seems to be related to bacterial load, and their potential in studying the effect of MDT remains unclear.

Chrysotherapy in psoriasis.

Efficacy of oral gold was assessed in 23 patients with psoriasis of various types with excellent or good response in 14 patients (60%) whereas patients belonging to the age group of 11-20 years showed beneficial response in 10 out of 12 patients (83%). None of the patients experienced any side effect. It was concluded that oral gold (6mg/ day) for 3 to 6 months can be used as an alternative therapy in psoriasis especially in younger age group.

Lupus miliaris disseminatus faciei.

Lupus miliaris disseminatus faciei also known as acne agminata is a rare disease affecting face in adults. Previously, it was thought to be a tuberculid; and its relation with rosacea is undefined. We report a case who had multiple yellowish brown to erythematous small papular lesions and many pitted atrophic scars on the face of 8 months duration. Investigations for tuberculosis were negative. Histopathology revealed tuberculoid granuloma.

Role of reactive oxygen species in renal damage in experimental leprosy.

Renal involvement is known to occur in leprosy. In the present study the possible role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in causation of renal damage in mice infected with Mycobacterium leprae has been investigated. At least six animals from each group (control and infected) were killed at 0 day, 3, 6 and 9 months postinfection. The results showed a significant increase in the chemiluminescence (CL) response of peritoneal macrophages which was maximum between 3 and 6 months. No significant increase was observed in CL response of blood neutrophils. A significant increase in lipid peroxidation was observed at 3 and 6 months as evident by an increase in malondialdehyde levels. The increased ROS production might be the cause of lipid peroxidation. The renal damage is alos evident by decrease in the activity of renal brush border membrane enzymes, namely, alkaline phosphatase, leucine aminopeptidase and r-glutamyl transpeptidase. Thus ROS might play a role during early stages of M. leprae infection but in the later stages other immunological mechanisms may overpower the effect of ROS.

Some observations on patients from two leprosy colonies in north India attending a city clinic.

Fifty-eight patients (26 males - mean age 52.5 years, 32 females - mean age 58.5 years) from two different leprosy colonies (Ambala and Jagadhari) were studied. Maximum number of the patients (48.4%) belonged to Uttar Pradesh. The clinical diagnosis was LLp:41(70.7%), LLs:14(24.2%), LL-burnt-out, BB-BL and BT: one each (1.7%). Mean duration of disabilities/deformities in these patients was 21.5 years. A peculiar myokymic movement of periorbital muscles was observed in 20 patients (34.5%). While dapsone monotherapy was continued in 55 patients, MDT (WHO-multibacillary regimen) was started in three patients. Vocational advice was given to 23 patients; and 35 (60.4%) patients were declared as "destitutes".

Transport of amino-acids across renal brush border membrane vesicles in Mycobacterium leprae infected Swiss albino mice--effect of Convit vaccine.

Brush border membrane vesicles prepared from kidneys of Mycobacterium leprae infected (non-vaccinated) and vaccinated-infected Swiss albino mice were used to assess the effect of Convit's combined vaccine (BCG + M. leprae) on amino acid transport activity across the tubular basement membrane. The protective effect of Convit's vaccine was more pronounced with respect to the uptake of L-alanine than L-aspartate. Uptake of L-lysine showed no significant difference in the different groups. Footpad counts followed characteristic growth curves in the non-vaccinated infected group but showed a lag in the development of peak levels in the vaccinated group. Further Convit's vaccine appeared to have a protective effect on renal impairment in the mouse model of leprosy in the initial stages of infection only, as indicated by the transient reversal of amino acid uptake and a diminution in the footpad counts induced by M. leprae infection. No significant (P > 0.05) protective effect of the vaccine was found in the advanced disease state.

Cutaneous sarcoidosis masquerading as relapsed borderline tuberculoid leprosy?

A patient with cutaneous sarcoidosis is presented. The patient was diagnosed initially as borderline tuberculoid leprosy downgrading to borderline lepromatous leprosy and received a full 2 years of World Health Organization multibacillary drug treatment (MDT). Bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy on chest X-ray and cutaneous anergy manifested by negative Mantoux, candidin and trichophytin skin tests suggested the diagnosis of sarcoidosis. Histopathology confirmed this diagnosis. The subcutaneous nodule seen in this patient is a rare type of cutaneous sarcoidosis.