Archival, paleopathological and aDNA-based techniques in leprosy research and the case of Father Petrus Donders at the Leprosarium 'Batavia', Suriname.

OBJECTIVE: We assessed whether Petrus Donders (died 1887), a Dutch priest who for 27 years cared for people with leprosy in the leprosarium Batavia, Suriname, had evidence of Mycobacterium (M.) leprae infection. A positive finding of M. leprae ancient (a)DNA would contribute to the origin of leprosy in Suriname. MATERIALS: Skeletal remains of Father Petrus Donders; two additional skeletons excavated from the Batavia cemetery were used as controls. METHODS: Archival research, paleopathological evaluation and aDNA-based testing of skeletal remains. RESULTS: Neither archives nor inspection of Donders skeletal remains revealed evidence of leprosy, and aDNA-based testing for M. leprae was negative. We detected M. leprae aDNA by RLEP PCR in one control skeleton, which also displayed pathological lesions compatible with leprosy. The M. leprae aDNA was genotyped by Sanger sequencing as SNP type 4; the skeleton displayed mitochondrial haplogroup L3. CONCLUSION: We found no evidence that Donders contracted leprosy despite years of intense leprosy contact, but we successfully isolated an archaeological M. leprae aDNA sample from a control skeleton from South America. SIGNIFICANCE: We successfully genotyped recovered aDNA to a M. leprae strain that likely originated in West Africa. The detected human mitochondrial haplogroup L3 is also associated with this geographical region. This suggests that slave trade contributed to leprosy in Suriname. LIMITATIONS: A limited number of skeletons was examined. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: Broader review of skeletal collections is advised to expand on diversity of the M. leprae aDNA database.

Detection of Mycobacterium leprae DNA in soil: multiple needles in the haystack.

Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae affecting the skin and nerves. Despite decades of availability of adequate treatment, transmission is unabated and transmission routes are not completely understood. Despite the general assumption that untreated M. leprae infected humans represent the major source of transmission, scarce reports indicate that environmental sources could also play a role as a reservoir. We investigated whether M. leprae DNA is present in soil of regions where leprosy is endemic or areas with possible animal reservoirs (armadillos and red squirrels). Soil samples (n = 73) were collected in Bangladesh, Suriname and the British Isles. Presence of M. leprae DNA was determined by RLEP PCR and genotypes were further identified by Sanger sequencing. M. leprae DNA was identified in 16.0% of soil from houses of leprosy patients (Bangladesh), in 10.7% from armadillos' holes (Suriname) and in 5% from the habitat of lepromatous red squirrels (British Isles). Genotype 1 was found in Bangladesh whilst in Suriname the genotype was 1 or 2. M. leprae DNA can be detected in soil near human and animal sources, suggesting that environmental sources represent (temporary) reservoirs for M. leprae.

Illness perceptions of leprosy-cured individuals in Surinam with residual disfigurements - "I am cured, but still I am ill".

Objective Leprosy has rarely been the subject of health psychology research despite its substantial impact. Our aim was to explore illness perceptions in patients and their health care providers in Surinam. The Common Sense Model (CSM) was the guiding theoretical model. Design Patients with biomedically cured leprosy and their health care providers completed the B-IPQ and took part in semi-structured interviews. The literature on illness perceptions in patients with leprosy was reviewed. Main outcome measures Patients' B-IPQ scores were compared with samples of patients with other (chronic) illnesses, and with health care providers completing the questionnaire as if they were visibly disfigured patients. Quotations from the semi-structured interviews were used to contextualise the illness perceptions. Results Patients' B-IPQ scores reflected the chronic nature of leprosy and were comparable with those with other chronic illnesses. Health care providers perceived leprosy to have a greater negative impact than did the patients. Perceived understanding of causes differed considerably between patients and health care providers. Conclusion Leprosy continues to be experienced as an illness with major psychological and social consequences such as stigmatisation, even after biomedical cure. Interventions that target patients, health care providers, and society at large may help reduce perceived shame and stigma. The CSM is a helpful theoretical model in studying this population.

Control de la lepra y contagionismo en suriman / No disponible

La lepra, aunque actualmente está desapareciendo, no ha sido derrotada todavía en Surinam. En la época colonial fue un gran problema para el gobierno colonial y la población, siendo la mayoría de pacientes (en la época pre-abolicionista) esclavos. En el siglo XVIII se estableció un sistema de control que ya incluía la en la legislación la detección y el confinamiento como métodos importantes. Los médicos holandeses que ejercían en Surinam durante el siglo XVIII y primera mitad del siglo XIX propusieron modelos contagionistas de contención que sugieren que la lepra era causada por una mezcla de factores, siendo la infección uno de ellos. Pero durante la primera mitad del siglo XIX, los investigadores europeos rechazaron mayoritariamente la infección y prevaleció el anti-contagionismo, considerando la herencia y los factores medioambientales como su causa. Al mismo tiempo, en Surinam - puesto que la lepra estaba incontrolada - la lucha contra la lepra se reforzó promulgando leyes implacables para perseguir e identificar a los leprosos. A su vez, Charles Louis Drognat-Landré defendió el punto de vista (tesis Utrecht) de que solamente la infección es la causa de la lepra. Su argumento sobre el contagionismo fue rechazado en Holanda, pero posteriormente publicó sus ideas en francés y así llegaron a ser más conocidas internacionalmente e influyeron en el noruego Hansen. Este descubrió algunos años después el microorganismo causal. Se afirma que hay una relación entre el desarrollo de una forma de contagionismo típico surimanés, un sistema de control de la lepra brutal y la estructura política autocrática, no liberal (hacia los esclavos) de la colonia holandesa de Surinam

Leprosy is nowadays a disappearing but not yet defeated disease in Suriname. In colonial times it was a burden for colonial government and people, the majority of patients (in preabolition times) being slaves. In the 18th century a control system was established, with detection and isolation, anchored in legislation, as major methods. Dutch physicians working in Suriname in the 18th and first half of the 19th century proposed contingent contagionistic models, according to which leprosy was caused by a mixture of factors, infection being one of them. But in the first half of the 19th century European researchers generally denied infection as the cause of leprosy and the paradigm of anti-contagionism prevailed, considering heredity and environmental factors as its cause. At the same time in Suriname - because leprosy appeared uncontrollable - the fight against the disease was reinforced by promulgating more relentless laws to hunt and identify lepers. In line with this, the Suriname born Charles Louis Drognat-Landré defended the view (thesis Utrecht) that infection is the one and only cause of leprosy. His extreme contagionism was sharply rejected in The Netherlands, but then he published his ideas in French and so could reach the international scene and influence the Norwegian Hansen. The latter discovered the culpable micro-organism a few years later. We claim a correlation between the development of a typical Surinamese form of contagionism, the brutal leprosy control system and the autocratic, non-liberal (towards the slaves) political structure of the Dutch colony Suriname

['Rheumatoid arthritis' in a Surinamese man: leprosy]. / 'Reumatoïde artritis' bij een Surinaamse man: lepra.

Rheumatoid arthritis was diagnosed in a 65-year-old man from Suriname, on the basis of clinical and radiological findings. However, he was eventually diagnosed with leprosy. This emerged when the patient developed skin lesions and complained of increasing sensibility disorders during treatment for the alleged rheumatoid arthritis. He was treated with a combination therapy consisting of rifampicin, clofazimine, dapsone, and prednisone. The skin lesions and joint symptoms were resolved as a result of this, but the sensibility disorders persisted. As physicians are not sufficiently familiar with leprosy and the condition has many manifestations that can mimic more frequently occurring diseases, leprosy is often diagnosed at a later stage. This may result in irreversible damage, especially to the peripheral nerves, which may lead to disability. Therefore, for patients who originate from areas where leprosy is endemic and who suffer from joint complaints in combination with skin or sensibility disorders, the diagnosis of leprosy should be considered.

[Coping with leprosy in the Dutch West Indies in the 19th century; opposing but meaningful views from Suriname]. / Omgang met lepra in 'de West' in de negentiende eeuw. Tegendraadse maar betekenisvolle geluiden vanuit Suriname.

Leprosy was highly prevalent among African slaves in the Dutch West Indian colony of Suriname. Largely based on observations in Suriname, Dutch physicians described the aetiology of leprosy in terms of'a substrate' to which all sorts of mixtures of infection, heredity and hygiene contributed ('seed and soil'). This explanatory model with multiple options for prevention and treatment left room for different developmental trajectories to control the spread of the disease in the various tropical colonies of the Dutch empire. In Suriname there was a growing worry in the 19th century regarding the spread of leprosy, threatening the health of slaves, settlers and colonial administrators. And this could be harmful to an already weakening plantation economy. This concern prompted the local administration to develop a rigorous policy of strict isolation of leprosy sufferers. This, in turn, intersected with a changing insight in Europe - including the Netherlands - that leprosy was non-contagious. However,'in splendid isolation' in the economically and politically marginal colony Suriname, Dutch physicians like Charles Landre and his son, Charles Louis Drognat Landré, could afford to ignore the European non-contagious approach and continue to support the strict isolation policies. Moreover, they developed a dissident radical explanation of leprosy as a disease caused only by contagion. In the absence of a receptive Dutch audience Drognat Landré published his contagion theory in French and so succeeded in inspiring the Norwegian Hansen, who subsequently discovered the culpable micro-organism. At the same time colonial administrators and physicians in the economically and politically important Dutch colonies in the East Indies adhered to the prevailing European concept and changed policies: the system of isolation was abolished. Given the rather different trajectories of leprosy health policies in the Dutch East and West Indies we point out the importance of a comparative approach.

[Contributions of the Netherlands and its colonies to the knowledge of the cause of leprosy in the 19th century]. / Bijdragen van Nederland en zijn koloniën aan de kennis over de oorzaak van lepra in de 19e eeuw.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the Dutch contributions to the formulation of the concept that leprosy is an infectious disease. DESIGN: Literature study. METHOD: A search for relevant publications was made in the Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde (Dutch journal of Medicine; NTvG) and the Geneeskundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië (Medical Journal of the Dutch Indies; GTNI) with the aid of the search terms 'lepra [leprosy]', 'lepra Arabum [Arab leprosy]', 'melaatsheid [leprosy]' and 'elephantiasis Graecorum [Greek elephantiasis]'. In addition, on the basis of references in the publications in the NTvG and the GTNI, as well as via searches in the catalogues of the Royal Library in The Hague and the libraries of Dutch universities, an inventory was made of the Dutch medical dissertations and other monographs on leprosy, as well as the medical historical review articles, from the 19th century. RESULTS: For a long time, physicians described the aetiology of leprosy in terms of 'a substrate' to which all sorts of mixtures of infection, heredity and hygiene contributed. From the middle of the 19th century onwards, this explanatory model with multiple possible solutions gave way to a controversy between two explanatory models: heredity as an 'anti-contagious' principle versus contagiosity. These two explanatory models were mutually exclusive in their universal aspirations. The debate in the Netherlands took place in the field of tension between European concepts on the one hand and on the other hand ideas and practices resulting from the interaction between the Netherlands and its colonies. Inspired in part by the writings of the Dutch physician C L Drognat Landré, who based his contagion theory on observations in Surinam, the Norwegian G. H. A. Hansen discovered the leprosy bacillus in 1873. It was not until 1897, at the international leprosy conference in Berlin, however, that consensus was to be reached on leprosy being an infectious disease. CONCLUSION: An essential contribution to the development of the contemporary ideas as to the cause of leprosy was made from the Netherlands.

HLA-DR-associated genetic control of the type of leprosy in a population from surinam.

The relationship between HLA phenotype and leprosy classification was studied in 73 unrelated patients and 92 healthy controls from a mixed Negroid-Caucasoid population originating from Surinam, South America. Heterogeneity in the distribution of HLA-DR (but not A, B, and C) was detected between tuberculoid (TT* + BT*) leprosy and lepromatous (BL* + LL*) leprosy patients (p = 0.024). This heterogeneity appeared to be caused almost exclusively by DR3. Most significantly, the frequency of DR3 was increased among polar tuberculoid (TT) leprosy patients as compared to the rest of the patients (p = 0.0003). Compared with healthy controls the frequency of DR3 was increased among TT patients (p = 0.006), unchanged in BT patients, and decreased among lepromatous (BL + LL) patients (p = 0.027). These data indicate that in this population an DR3-associated factor controls the type of the disease that develops after infection with Mycobacterium leprae.

Immune complexes in leprosy patients from an endemic and a nonendemic area and a longitudinal study of the relationship between complement breakdown products and the clinical activity of erythema nodosum leprosum

The sera from leprosy patients living in Surinam (endemic) and 41 leprosy patients living in The Netherlands (nonendemic) were tested for circulating immune complexes (CIC) with the Clq-binding assay and the conglutinin-binding assay and for complement.

Leprosy in the Netherlands. A review of leprosy patients registered at the Department of Dermatology, University of Amsterdam in the years 1972-1976.

Recently, there has been a sharp increase in the number of leprosy patients in The Netherlands, due to an increased immigration from Surinam where leprosy is hyperendemic. The patients registered at the Dermatological Department of the University of Amsterdam during the years 1972-1976 were reviewed. It was found that 28% of the untreated patients had recently suffered a relapse. A substantial percentage took the medication irregularly or discontinued treatment prematurely and quite a few patients required other types of treatment besides chemotherapy, such as surgical treatment and physiotherapy.

In vitro synthesis of humoral factors (immunoglobulins and complement) in lesional skin of leprosy patients

Reviews the leprosy situation in the world and in Suriname, as well as its clinical forms and immunological aspects. Skin samples with a diameter of 6 mm were taken from untreated lepers, 3 samples per patient. The aims were: to determine whether humoral factors are synthesized in the skin lesions of lepers, to study cells producing immunoglobulins and complement, and to study whether the locally synthesized immunoglobulins have antibody activity against M. leprae. The in vitro culture technique (Hochwald 1961/ Furth 1966), the direct immunofluorescence technique and the crossed immuno-electrophoresis with intermediate gel (Axelsen/Week;1973) were used. It was shown that lesional skin of indeterminate leprosy does not synthesize immunoglobulines. However, IgG was synthesized in tissue cultures of other leprosy varieties. Ig-positive cells were found in some of the patients examined, whereas complement-positive cells were not found. Culture fluid did contain newly synthesized antibodies against different M. leprae antigenic components. These antibodies were also found in the sera of the patients examined. This showed that antibody synthesis does not take place in the skin lesions, but elsewhere in the body. The biological significance of these antibodies is not yet known. Further study is needed to throw light upon this problem