The early reaction induced by lepromin / ?

ABSTRACT

The intradermal reaction to lepromin has been studied in a total of 563 persons, cases of leprosy and contacts. Observation of its clinical and histopathologic development has shown the following factsa- In allergic cases intradermal injection of lepromin induces an "early" reaction which is well defined, both clinically and histologically, beginning a few hours after injection and reaching its maximum between 48 and 72 hours, thereafter decreasing until it disappears completely during the first week. b- This early reaction, which is manifested clinically by an erythematous halo, usually infiltrated, is not of nonspecific character since it has the histologic structure common to allergic reactions and is only seen in those cases which offer resistance to the infection (i.e., neural forms of the disease, particularly the tuberculoid form) and does not occur in cases which are considered anergic, as in the lepromatous type...