Feline cutaneous mycobacteriosis: a review of clinical, pathological and molecular characterization of one case of Mycobacterium microti skin infection and nine cases of feline leprosy syndrome from France and New Caledonia.

BACKGROUND: Ten cats with skin lesions characteristic of cutaneous mycobacteriosis were included in this retrospective clinical, pathological and molecular study. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify the causative agent and to compare the clinicopathological features of these cases with those of previous studies. METHODS: Cats were from the south east of France (eight cases), central France (one case) and New Caledonia (South Pacific; one case). Criteria for inclusion were histological evidence of granulomatous dermatitis and/or panniculitis, with acid-fast bacilli within macrophages or extracellularly in regions of tissue necrosis. PCR targeting the 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer region and sequence analysis were performed using DNA extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues from all cases. RESULTS: All cats were presented with a history of alopecic to ulcerated nodules. Most cases had limited disease, with one to few nodules, while others (three cats) showed a more aggressive clinical course. Lesions from eight cats yielded a sequence consistent with Mycobacterium lepraemurium, while Mycobacterium microti was identified postmortem from the cutaneous lesion in the cat originating from central France and euthanized for its debilitating condition. No PCR product could be amplified from the remaining specimen. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Based on this geographically restricted case series, feline leprosy in southern France is most likely to be caused by M. lepraemurium and presents as a generally self-limiting disease. Molecular testing is essential to assess zoonotic potential, because M. microti-induced cutaneous mycobacteriosis can resemble feline leprosy syndrome.

[Profile of leprosy in New Caledonia. Evolution from 1983-1998]. / Bilan de la lèpre en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Evolution de 1983 à 1998.

The authors report the results of a retrospective study on the evolution of leprosy in New-Caledonia, French island in Oceania, between 1983, time of the onset of polychemotherapy (PCT), and 1998. Since 1996, the prevalence is and remains less than 1/10,000. The annual rate detection fall from 15.6 in 1983 to 2.48/100,000 in 1998. Less than 10 new cases are detected annually since 1994. During this period, the number of new patients less than 15-years old decreased and the percentage of multibacillary patients increased, assessing a priori the improvement of the endemicity. One case of relapse was detected in a MB patients treated for 2 years among the 231 new patients.

[Leprosy in New Caledonia from 1983 to 1992. Histopathological and epidemiological data]. / La lèpre en Nouvelle-Calédonie de 1983 à 1992. Données histopathologiques et épidémiologiques.

New Caledonia is a South Pacific Island inhabited by more than 170,000 people: most of them are melanesians or europeans. Multidrug therapy for Hansen disease has been employed since 1983; so we made an epidemiologic and histopathologic study of the new cases diagnosed for 10 years, from 1983 to 1992. Local (clinical, histological, microbiological and immunological) means of diagnosis are described. In New Caledonia, the endemic level is lower than in the small neighbouring Pacific islands but there is still a native reservoir of Mycobacterium leprae with 40% multibacillary types. Nearly half of the new cases are less than 25 years old. They are often male melanesians. The diagnosis of indeterminate forms is debated when there is no acid-fast bacillus. Border-line forms are rare. Tuberculoid leprosy poses many differential diagnosis problems. Despite available multidrug therapy, one cannot yet consider that the incidence is decreasing significantly.