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TREATMENT OF PAUCIBACILLARY LEPROSY
Author(s) -
SAXENA UMA,
MISRA R.S.,
RAMESH V.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
international journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-4632
pISSN - 0011-9059
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-4362.1993.tb01457.x
Subject(s) - medicine , leprosy , dermatology
Background . When multidrug therapy was introduced a decade ago to shorten the duration of treatment, paucibacillary leprosy was advocated 6 months of treatment. The diagnosis is based mainly on clinical and histopathologic examination, negative slit‐skin smear examination, and positive lepromin test. Methods . The case records of 508 paucibacillary leprosy patients attending our urban leprosy center have been analyzed with reference to regularity of therapy, response to multidrug regimen, follow‐up, and relapse. Results . The incidence of paucibacillary leprosy was found to be 37%. Defaulter rate was 45%. Nine percent of the cases attended the center with deformities emphasizing the need for corrective surgery and early case detection to prevent them. Conclusions . The main problem that we faced was the optimum duration of treatment, which is as yet an unsettled question. The opinions of other workers have been given, and a slight modification in current WHO regimen has been suggested without significantly affecting the cost of therapy.