title: An unusual cause of hand trauma in the emergency department.
abstract: Leprosy was once a severely mutilating and incapacitating disease with little hope for the afflicted. Today, patients with leprosy do not suffer from the obvious deformities seen in earlier days, so recognition of this disease has become more difficult. We report the case of a man with no previous disabilities who presented to the emergency department with acute unintentional hand trauma secondary to peripheral neuropathy caused by leprosy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center.
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Moradzadeh
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Anglin
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Hutson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gasser
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000673:Amputation, Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D015984:Causality; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D006230:Hand Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications*