A study of the blood in leprosy: cytology and clotting

ABSTRACT

Ninety cases of leprosy were examined. All cases except two were under treatment with the sulphones. A hypochromic, normocytic anaemia was present in 80 percent of males and 60 percent of females. This had been reported previously in leprosy and also in patients under treatment with the sulphones. Nine per cent of cases showed a marked basophilia and basophils were present in 26 percent of cases. The relationship is not understood. Twenty-five per cent of cases showed the presence of atypical monocytes, a finding which has previously been observed in leprosy. A contradictory tendency to thrombocytopenia with a shortened bleeding time was found, with normal clotting and prothrombin times. The significance of these findings is not understood. (AU)