title: Presence of M. leprae in tissues in slit skin smear negative multibacillary (MB) patients after WHO-MBR.
abstract: This study looked for M. leprae in the lymph node, nerve and skin of multibacillary (MB) leprosy patients who become slit skin smear negative after the completion of WHO-MBR. Twenty-five WHO-MBR-treated multibacillary leprosy patients were studied; borderline lepromatous (BL) leprosy (n = 11) and lepromatous (LL) leprosy (n = 14)). Fifteen patients had reaction (erythema nodosum leprosum 11, upgrading reaction 4) either at presentation or during therapy. All patients attained slit skin smear negativity after WHO-MBR (range 24-39 months. Sixteen (64%) patients with multibacillary leprosy showed fragmented bacilli in skin and nerve biopsy or lymph node aspirates after WHO-MBR. Lymph node aspirates alone revealed M. leprae in seven patients, followed by nerve in two and skin in one patient. Four cases showed M. leprae at all sites followed by nerve and skin or lymph node in one case each. A pretreatment bacteriological index (BI) of 4+ or more was significantly associated with the presence of M. leprae at the end of treatment. Also, significantly more lymph node aspirates contained M. leprae in comparison with nerve or skin biopsies. All seven cases in whom treatment was extended beyond 24 months showed M. leprae in tissues even after attaining slit smear negativity. In conclusion, M. leprae persist in tissues after 2 years of WHO-MBR and patients with an initial BI of 4+ or more need to be closely followed up after stopping MDT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: V K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rajwanshi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007917:Leprostatic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007918:Leprosy / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000382:microbiology; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014944:World Health Organization
chemical_list: D007917:Leprostatic Agents