title: Unsolved matters in leprosy: a descriptive review and call for further research.
abstract: Leprosy, a chronic mycobacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae, is an infectious disease that has ravaged human societies throughout millennia. This ancestral pathogen causes disfiguring cutaneous lesions, peripheral nerve injury, ostearticular deformity, limb loss and dysfunction, blindness and stigma. Despite ongoing efforts in interrupting leprosy transmission, large numbers of new cases are persistently identified in many endemic areas. Moreover, at the time of diagnosis, most newly identified cases have considerable neurologic disability. Many challenges remain in our understanding of the epidemiology of leprosy including: (a) the precise mode and route of transmission; (b) the socioeconomic, environmental, and behavioral factors that promote its transmission; and
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases Clinic, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, 507 3rd Avenue, Albany, GA, 31721, USA. carlos.franco.paredes@gmail.com.|Hospital Infantil de México, Federico Gómez, Mexico D.F., Mexico. carlos.franco.paredes@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franco-Paredes
authors.affiliation: Public Health and Infection Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia.
authors.forename: Alfonso J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Rodriguez-Morales
mesh_terms: D001766:Blindness / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D006644:Histiocytes / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D063426:Human Migration; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D059348:Peripheral Nerve Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D012583:Schwann Cells / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Disability; Elimination; Hansen’s disease; Histiocytes; Leprosy; Leprosy reactions; Mycobacterium leprae; Peripheral nerve; Schwann cell; Sequelae