title: Seroepidemiological study on 724 household contacts of leprosy patients in French Polynesia using disaccharide-octyl-BSA as antigen.
abstract: A seroepidemiological surveillance of a contact population was started in 1984 in French Polynesia. The ELISA test was used to measure IgM anti-ND-O-BSA in the sera. Specific antibody levels were higher in healthy Polynesians than in normal individuals living in a nonendemic country. The positive threshold of the reaction was fixed according to this background activity in healthy Polynesians. Under these conditions, 100% of the multibacillary patients were detected as seropositive as compared to 5% of the paucibacillary group. In the population of 724 household contacts tested and observed for 2 years: 93 (12.8%) were seropositive, with 8 (1.1%) showing activity equivalent to multibacillary patients (1 of these 8 individuals developed a lepromatous form of leprosy); 631 (87%) were seronegative and 3 developed a paucibacillary form of the disease (2 BT, 1 I) without any antibody increase. Among those four contacts who developed leprosy, three were related to a multibacillary index case. These data suggest that this test may be useful for the prediction of multibacillary leprosy. A long-term surveillance of this high-risk population will be able to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of the serological assay.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherches, Medicales Louis Malarde, Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chanteau
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Cartel
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guidi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Plichart
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bach
mesh_terms: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D004187:Disaccharides; D006017:Glycolipids / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000032:analysis*; D007918:Leprosy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000276:immunology*; D011114:Polynesia; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D004187:Disaccharides; D006017:Glycolipids; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; C051559:O-(3,6-di-O-methylglucopyranosyl)-(1-4)-O-(2,3-di-O-methylrhamnopyranosyl)-(1-9)-oxynonanoyl-bovine serum albumin; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine