title: Childhood leprosy in eastern Nepal: a hospital-based study.
abstract: A hospital-based retrospective study on childhood leprosy was carried out at B.R. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, covering the period April 1998-April 2002. 20 (4.45%) leprosy patients were detected in children aged 6-14 years. The male:female ratio was 4:1. History of contact was found in 10% of the patients. The commonest type of leprosy was borderline tuberculoid leprosy (550%), followed by borderline lepromatous leprosy (301%). Most of the patients had more than one lesion. Nerve involvement and grade 2 deformity were noted in 55% and 20% of the patients respectively. Slit skin smear was positive in 30% of patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal.
authors.forename: K Deb
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Burman
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rijall
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agarwalla
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Verma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D009390:Nepal / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution