LEPROSY IN CHILDREN

Dayal R.

S.N. Medical College, Agra, India

Leprosy is an ancient disease mainly prevalent in tropical countries. India accounts for about one fourth of the total cases of leprosy in the world. Inoculation of the bacillus may result in development of Tuberculoid, Borderline or Lepromatous form of the disease depending upon the immune status of the individual. As age advances, the disease moves from the Tuberculoid end of the spectrum towards the Lepromatous end.

While the Leprosy vaccine is still under trial, BCG and chemoprophylaxis are useful in prevention.

For early diagnosis, the Lepromin test, the Fluorescent Leprosy Antibody Absorption Technique (FLA-ABS), PCR and Gene probes are excellent tools. In our five years follow-up study on 455 healthy childhood contacts of leprosy patients, we found children who were FLA-ABS positive and Lepromin negative to be at high risk of developing disease. Again, in another study we observed r-RNA gene probes to be of immense diagnostic benefit particularly in early stages of disease, in smear negative cases and in those with inconclusive histopathology.

Treatment using the WHO protocol, with minor modifications, is effective.

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