Amyloidosis in leprosy

Fourteen hundred and forty five biopsied tissues of various organs including liver, skeletal muscle, kidney, lymphnode, larynx and skin from 1222 patients of leprosy obtained during the last 10 years have been examined histopathologically to study various types of pathological lesions. These patients ranged in age from 7 years to 72 years and the duration of illness varied from less than one year to twenty years. Although the presence of lepromatous granuloma, AFB in varying proportions, and some nonspecific lesions have been observed in them, but amyloidosis was not detected in any of them. This finding is discussed in view of the observations of other authors of different parts of the world in this connection. Consumption of mainly vegetarian diet in our population and that of meat in Western population has been suggested to be the probable cause of the difference of amyloidosis observed in the two groups of people.

Secondary amyloidosis in lepromatous leprosy: possible relationships of diet and environment / ?

Some of the possible factors involved in the genesis of amyloidosis during the course of lepromatous leprosy have been studied. In a group of 101 patients from the U. S. Public Health Service Hospital at Carville, La., it is estimated that 40 to 50% have concomitant amyloidosis. This high proportion has been previously wll-documented by autopsy studies (2,3) and was suggested by a 31% positive result in 69 gingival biopsies among this group. Congo red results were often positive, particularly when accompanied by persistent albuminuria. The high percentage of amyloidosis at Carville lies in distict contrast to that of 119 patients studied at Guadalajara, Mexico, where amyloid was diagnosed in only 6%. Factors which may play some role in this different include discrepancies in animal fat consumption between the two population groups. Patients at Carville eat fewer calories but twice the percentage of saturated fat in their diet as compared to the Mexican group studied...