Tuberculoid relapse in lepromatous leprosy.

TUBERCULOID RELAPSE IN LEPROMATOUS LEPROSY Sir, Waters & Ridley ' recently reported 6 patients who had been lepromatous and who, after many years of chemotherapy and bacteriological negativity, were found on relapse to have upgraded to borderline-tuberculoid (BT) leprosy . In a related article,2 they reported the development of weakly posi tive lepromin reactions in some lepromatous patients treated for more than 22 years; a control group of BL patients remained lepromin negative, when less than 20 years of treatment had been given . We have recently seen tuberculoid relapses in 2 previously lepromatous patients, from western Uganda, 7 and 1 2 years after initial diagnosis. They had had multiple-drug regimens and had never shown signs of reaction. Condensed histories of both cases are given below.