title: IgM immunoglobulins reacting with the phenolic glycolipid-1 antigen from Mycobacterium leprae in sera of leprosy patients and their contacts.
abstract: For the first time in Brazil it was investigated the occurrence of IgM anti-PGL-1 in the sera of household contacts of leprosy patients using the ELISA methodology. The sera of the multibacillary patients showed significantly more immuno-reactivity than from the paucibacillary patients. It was observed a high subclinical infection incidence among household contacts (19.4%). The percentage of leprosy development was 5% (1/21) among the seropositive contact group. This finding suggests that serology could be useful as prognostic test, but for better definition is necessary to test a population from endemic area for long period time.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Tropical, Laboratório de Hanseníase, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Saad
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Medeiros
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Gallo
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Gontijo
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Fonseca
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D002648:Child; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006017:Glycolipids / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000032:analysis*; D007918:Leprosy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000276:immunology*; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D006017:Glycolipids; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; C045169:phenolic glycolipid I, Mycobacterium leprae