Corticosteroid pulse therapy for leprosy complicated by a severe type 1 reaction.

A 24-year-old Vietnamese woman presented with a 3-month history of non-itchy erythematous plaques on the face, trunk and limbs. Borderline lepromatous leprosy was confirmed by clinical findings, acid-fast bacilli on skin biopsy specimen and skin smear and a history of exposure. Around the twentieth day of World Health Organization (WHO) multibacillary standard treatment (rifampin 600 mg per month, dapsone 100 mg per day, clofazimine 300 mg per month and 50 mg per day for 1 year), she developed fever, general malaise, blurred vision, cough, nausea, epigastric pain, and arthralgia. The skin lesions also became swollen. During hospitalization, her illness was complicated by retrobulbar optic neuritis, secondary bacterial pneumonia, pleuritis, ascites, hepatitis, antral gastritis, progressive normocytic anemia, and peripheral sensory loss. The patient recovered after receiving systemic steroid pulse therapy (prednisolone equivalent dose 1250 mg) with systemic antibiotics (cefuroxime), adjustment of her anti-lepromatous therapy, and supportive care. She resumed the WHO multibacillary regimen uneventfully. This patient presented with a diverse type 1 reaction, which is a complex immune response in leprosy. We found that the judicious use of high dose steroids followed by a slow tapering course is beneficial in managing patients with a severe type 1 reaction. At the 1-year follow up, the patient had generalized skin hyperpigmentation resulted from long-term clofazamine use and numbness on feet without other systemic sequelae.

Granulomatous hepatitis: a retrospective study.

51 cases of granulomatous hepatitis were seen among 1234 liver biopsies over a 10 year period. Tuberculosis was the commonest cause seen in 55 percent of cases. Other causes included leprosy, sarcoidosis, histoplasmosis, brucellosis, amoebic liver abscess, lymphoma and malignant granuloma. 12 percent of cases remained undiagnosed. Clinically these patients presented with pyrexia and hepatosplenomegaly. Jaundice was uncommon. Many showed elevated alkaline phosphatase levels, anaemia and raised ESR Granulomatous hepatitis of unknown aetiology with FUO was seen in 6 percent cases only.

Case report: dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome associated with treatment of the bite of a brown recluse spider.

Dapsone (4-4-diaminodiphenyl-sulfone) is a member of the sulfone group of antibiotics used in the treatment of leprosy and various dermatitidies and more recently employed in the management of local reactions to the bite of the brown recluse spider, Loxosceles reclusa. A dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome, consisting of fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, lymphadenopathy, hepatitis, hemolysis, leukopenia, and mononucleosis, has been described in patients treated with the drug for leprosy. A case report of the hypersensitivity syndrome occurring in a patient being treated with dapsone for a brown recluse spider bite is presented.

[Granulomatous hepatitis. Etiologic study of 107 cases (author's transl)]. / Hepatitis granulomatosa, estudio etiológico de 107 casos.

An etiologic study was made of 107 cases of granulomatous hepatitis which were observed in a Department of Internal Medicine between January, 1971 and December, 1977 (excluding the hepatobiliary diseases). The most common etiology was tuberculosis (30 cases, 28 percent) followed by sarcoidosis (19 cases, 17.7 percent), Mediterranean exanthematous fever (13 cases, 12.1 percent), brucellosis (8 cases, 7.4 percent) typhoid fever (7 cases, 6.5 percent) and the idiopathic forms (8 cases, 7.4 percent). A lower rate of incidence was among Hodgkin's disease, toxoplasmosis, adenocarcinomas, leprosy, and those of unknown etiology, classified in this way because the study and follow-up of the patients could not be completed. There were, moreover, individual cases caused by mononucleosis, BCG reaction, hypogammaglobulinemia, celiac disease, and temporal arteritis. From a clinical point of view 50 percent of the patients had hepatomegaly and moderate disturbance of the liver enzymes. The most important enzymatic increases were detected in the cases caused by brucellosis; in the cases which were secondary to sarcoidosis the liver enzymes were normal. A comparison is established between the etiologic incidence of the present series and of others published in the literature. The causes and diagnostic problems of this type of lesion are discussed.

[Granulomatous hepatitis: aetiological study of 107 cases (author's transl)]. / Hépatite granulomateuse: étude étiologique de 107 cas.

In this series, the commonest aetiology was tuberculosis (30 cases, 28%), followed by sarcoidosis (18 cases, 17,7%), mediterranean fever (Olmer's disease) (13 cases, 12,1%), brucellosis (8 cases, 7,4%), typhoid fever (7 cases, 6,6%) and idiopathic forms (8 cases, 7,4%). These were followed by Hodgkin's disease, toxoplasmosis, adenosarcoma, and leprosy. Finally, there were single cases due to infectious mononucleosis, B.C.G. reaction, hypogammaglobulinaemia, coeliac disease and temporal arteritis. Half of the patients had hepatomegaly and an increase, in general moderate, in hepatic enzymes (transaminases, alkaline phosphatase). The highest enzyme levels were seen in cases of brucellosis, hepatic enzymes being normal in patients with sarcoidosis.