Specialized active leprosy search strategies in an endemic area of the Brazilian Amazon identifies a hypermutated strain causing primary drug resistance.

Introduction: Leprosy, an infectious disease caused by , remains a public health concern in endemic countries, particularly in Brazil. In this study, we conducted an active surveillance campaign in the hyperendemic city of Castanhal in the northeastern part of the state of Pará using clinical signs and symptoms combined with serological and molecular tools to diagnose new cases and to identify drug resistance of circulating strains and their distribution in the community.

Methods: During an active surveillance of one week, we enrolled 318 individuals using three different strategies to enroll subjects for this study: (i) an active survey of previously treated cases from 2006 to 2016 found in the Brazil National Notifiable Disease Information System database ( = 23) and their healthy household contacts (HHC) ( = 57); (ii) an active survey of school children (SC) from two primary public schools in low-income neighborhoods ( = 178), followed by visits to the houses of these newly diagnosed SC ( = 7) to examine their HHC ( = 34) where we diagnosed additional new cases ( = 6); (iii) and those people who spontaneously presented themselves to our team or the local health center with clinical signs and/or symptoms of leprosy ( = 6) with subsequent follow-up of their HHC when the case was confirmed ( = 20) where we diagnosed two additional cases ( = 2).

A study about management of drugs for leprosy patients under medical monitoring: A solution based on AHP-Electre decision-making methods.

Leprosy, also known as Hansen's, is one of the listed neglected tropical diseases as a major health problem global. Treatment is one of the main alternatives, however, the scarcity of medication and its poor distribution are important factors that have driven the spread of the disease, leading to irreversible and multi-resistant complications. This paper uses a distribution methodology to optimize medication administration, taking into account the most relevant attributes for the epidemiological profile of patients and the deficit in treatment via Polychemotherapy.

Silent peripheral neuropathy determined by high-resolution ultrasound among contacts of patients with Hansen's disease.

Introduction: Hansen's disease (HD) primarily infects peripheral nerves, with patients without HD being free of peripheral nerve damage. Household contacts (HHCs) of patients with HD are at a 5-10 times higher risk of HD than the general population. Neural thickening is one of the three cardinal signs that define a case of HD according to WHO guidelines, exclusively considering palpation examination that is subjective and may not detect the condition in the earliest cases even when performed by well-trained professionals.

Point-of-care ultrasound of peripheral nerves in the diagnosis of Hansen's disease neuropathy.

Introduction: Hansen's disease (HD) is the most common cause of treatable peripheral neuropathy in the world that may or may not involve skin manifestations, and physical examination based on simplified neurologic evaluation is a subjective and inaccurate procedure. High-resolution ultrasound (HRUS) can be used to evaluate peripheral nerves and is a validated technique of good reproducibility, permitting a detailed and precise examination.

Objectives: We proposed to establish objective criteria for absolute values of the measurement of the CSA of peripheral nerves and their indices of the ΔCSA and ΔTpT in the diagnosis of Hansen's disease neuropathy as compared with healthy voluntaries.

Latent leprosy infection identified by dual RLEP and anti-PGL-I positivity: Implications for new control strategies.

The number of new cases of leprosy reported worldwide has remained essentially unchanged for the last decade despite continued global use of free multidrug therapy (MDT) provided to any diagnosed leprosy patient. In order to more effectively interrupt the chain of transmission, new strategies will be required to detect those with latent disease who contribute to furthering transmission. To improve the ability to diagnose leprosy earlier in asymptomatic infected individuals, we examined the combined use of two well-known biomarkers of M.

Structural and evolutionary analysis of Leishmania Alba proteins.

The Alba superfamily proteins share a common RNA-binding domain. These proteins participate in a variety of regulatory pathways by controlling developmental gene expression. They also interact with ribosomal subunits, translation factors, and other RNA-binding proteins.