Leprosy in Buriticupu, state of Maranhão: active search in the general population

Abstract

Introduction: This study was developed to evaluate the situation of leprosy in the general population of the municipality of Buriticupu, State of Maranhão, Brazil. Methods: We used the method of active search to identify new cases from 2008 to 2010. Bacilloscopy of intradermal scrapings was performed in all patients with skin lesions compatible with leprosy, and histopathological examination in those who had doubts on the definition of the clinical form. Results: The study included 19,104 individuals, with 42 patients diagnosed with leprosy after clinical examination, representing a detection rate of 219.84 per 100,000 inhabitants. The predominant clinical presentation was tuberculoid with 24 (57.1%) cases, followed by borderline with 11, indeterminate with four, and lepromatous with three cases. The study also allowed the identification of 81 patients with a history of leprosy and other skin diseases, such as pityriasis versicolor, dermatophytosis, scabies, vitiligo, and skin carcinoma. The binomial test showed that the proportion of cases in the headquarters was significantly higher than that in the villages (p = 0.04), and the generalized exact test showed that there was no association between age and clinical form (p = 0.438) and between age and gender (p = 0.083). Conclusions:The elevated detection rate defines the city as hyperendemic for leprosy; the active search for cases, as well as the organization of health services, is an important method for disease control.

High rates of undiagnosed leprosy and subclinical infection amongst school children in the Amazon Region

“…Similarly, Thirumalaikolundusubramanian and Prince (1983) examined 6,731 primary SC in India and 173 (2.7%) had leprosy. Silva et al (2007) detected 20 new leprosy cases during an active search of 14,653 students, a case detection rate of 136/100,000 students, in Buriticupu, a hyperendemic municipality in the state of Maranhão (Brazil). In a cross-sectional survey of 1,114 students 11-20 years old in four districts in Timor-Lest, dos Santos et al (2010) detected 17 (1.5%) new leprosy cases, which represents a case detection rate of 1,526/100,000 students.…”

Leprosy treatment dropout: a sistematic review

“…It is believed that understanding and patient behavior in relation to the adhesion to drug treatment are largely influenced by their socio-economic status and level of knowledge [16,17]. …”

Physical disability degree in the elderly population affected by leprosy in the state of Bahia, Brazil

“…This fact results in late diagnosis and a greater risk of developing physical and functional disabilities. 19,20 As shown in Table 3, the proportion of elderly with grade 1 and 2 is higher than the proportion of elderly women. The inverse occurs with the proportion of individuals with zero degree of physical disability.…”