Leprosy is a chronic infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae, a bacillus that presents a peculiar tropism for the skin and peripheral nerves. The clinical spectrum of leprosy ranges from the tuberculoid form (TT) to the disseminative and progressive lepromatous form (LL). Oral lesions are rare but, when present, occur in the lepromatous form. This article describes the clinical and microscopic...

The pseudocholinesterase levels and the nature of the enzyme as shown by the dibucaine number (D.N.) were estimated in 720 controls and 420 lepromatous leprosy patients, and 301 tuberculoid leprosy patients. There was no statistical difference in the esterase levels between leprosy patients and normal controls. But the distribution of D.N. was significantly different in the leprosy patients co...

Sera from leprosy patients across the clinical spectrum, healthy contacts, tuberculosis patients, and healthy donors were tested for their reactivity with antigens of mycobacterial strain ICRC (a cultivable mycobacterium) and Mycobacterium leprae by immunoprecipitation technique. Using M. leprae antigens, it was not possible to distinguish between reactivities of sera from lepromatous, borderli...

A solid-phase radioimmunoassay, applying whole Mycobacterium leprae as antigen and radiolabeled protein A from Staphylococcus aureus as antibody-detecting reagent, was used for the determination of specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM antibody responses in leprosy patients. High IgG anti-M. leprae antibody levels were found in lepromatous leprosy patients, whereas the antibody response in tu...

Single dose vaccination was carried out with Mycobacterium habana vaccine, 31 lepromatous leprosy cases receiving 1.5 mg (1.5 mg = 6.27 x 10(8) bacilli) and 36 household contacts randomly receiving 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 mg vaccine intradermally. Duration of study was 18 weeks. Vaccination induced lepromin conversion in 100% of lepromatous leprosy cases and lepromin negative household contacts and augme...

BACKGROUND Leprosy can have its course interrupted by type 1 and 2 reactional episodes, the last named of erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL). Thalidomide has been the medication of choice for the control of ENL episodes since 1965. OBJECTIVES These episodes can repeat and cause damages to the patient. In order to prevent these episodes, an extra dose of 100 mg/day thalidomide was used during six...