title: [Leprosy in French Guyana: a retrospective study from 1997 to 2006].
abstract: French Guyana borders Brazil with the second highest number of cases of leprosy in the world. The purpose of this retrospective study of leprosy cases diagnosed in Guyana between January 1997 and December 2006 was to calculate the incidence of the disease and to identify any special clinical and epidemiological features. A total of 90 new cases were recorded during the study period for a mean incidence of 0.53 cases/10,000 inhabitants/year. Since this incidence is below the 1/10,000 threshold defined by the World Health Organization, leprosy is no longer considered as a major public health issue in French Guyana. However it must be noted that while the number of "native leprosy" cases has declined, the number of Brazilian cases has increased (p<0.01). Brazilian leprosy has different epidemiological features, i.e., dominance of multibacillary forms and high incidence in gold panning and western regions of the country where the incidence is over 1/10,000 inhabitants/year.
authors.affiliation: Service de dermatologie, Centre hospitalier Andrée Rosemon de Cayenne, Guyane.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Domergue
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Clyti
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sainte-Marie
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marty
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Couppié
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006172:Guyana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007917:Leprostatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007918:Leprosy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution
chemical_list: D007917:Leprostatic Agents