Title |
Evidence of hidden leprosy in a supposedly low endemic area of Brazil
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Published in |
Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, December 2017
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DOI | 10.1590/0074-02760170173 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Fred Bernardes, Natália Aparecida de Paula, Marcel Nani Leite, Thania Loyola Cordeiro Abi-Rached, Sebastian Vernal, Moises Batista da Silva, Josafá Gonçalves Barreto, John Stewart Spencer, Marco Andrey Cipriani Frade |
Abstract |
Show that hidden endemic leprosy exists in a municipality of inner São Paulo state (Brazil) with active surveillance actions based on clinical and immunological evaluations. The study sample was composed by people randomly selected by a dermatologist during medical care in the public emergency department and by active surveillance carried out during two days at a mobile clinic. All subjects received a dermato-neurological examination and blood sampling to determine anti-PGL-I antibody titers by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). From July to December 2015, 24 new cases of leprosy were diagnosed; all were classified as multibacillary (MB) leprosy, one with severe Lucio's phenomenon. Seventeen (75%) were found with grade-1 or 2 disability at the moment of diagnosis. Anti-PGL-I titer was positive in 31/133 (23.3%) individuals, only 6/24 (25%) were positive in newly diagnosed leprosy cases. During the last ten years before this study, the average new case detection rate (NCDR) in this town was 2.62/100,000 population. After our work, the NCDR was raised to 42.8/100,000. These results indicate a very high number of hidden leprosy cases in this supposedly low endemic area of Brazil. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 1 | 50% |
Netherlands | 1 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 2 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 55 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Bachelor | 12 | 22% |
Student > Master | 7 | 13% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 6 | 11% |
Researcher | 5 | 9% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 4 | 7% |
Other | 10 | 18% |
Unknown | 11 | 20% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Medicine and Dentistry | 19 | 35% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 12 | 22% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 4 | 7% |
Immunology and Microbiology | 3 | 5% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 2 | 4% |
Other | 3 | 5% |
Unknown | 12 | 22% |