Observations on the Progress of Incipient Lesions of Leprosy

It has been affirmed repeatedly by numerous workers that there cxist "abortive" cases of leprosy. Some of these never develop recognizable manifestations of the disease (nonprogressive "latent" infection) , while others which become clinically positive do not progress beyond an early, "incipient" stage. In the latter class there are observed definite, characteristic lesions such as anesthetic macules, or localized insensitive areas of skin sometimes supplied by thickened nerves; all are usually negative bacteriologically. Without medication these lesions become stationary, or they retrogress and completely disappear and leave no trace of the infection, though occasionally an atrophic scar or a slight contracture of the fingers romains to show that the infection has existed. Unfortunately, so far as we are aware, such supposed abortive or self-limiting incipient cases have nowhere been followed up for a sufficient length of time after the disappearance of the lesions to give positive information as to their ultimate outcome. Moreover, as Manalang (1) rightly insists: "the so-called spontaneous improvement or disappearance of the disease which is common, should be confirmed histo-pathologically."