Molecular epidemiology of merkel cell polyomavirus: evidence for geographically related variant genotypes.

Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) is linked to a cutaneous cancer mainly occurring in Caucasians. DNA from skin swabs of 255 adults, originating from the 5 continents, were subjected to MCPyV PCRs. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrate the existence of 5 major geographically related MCPyV genotypes (Europe/North America, Africa [sub-Saharan], Oceania, South America, and Asia/Japan).

[Leprosy with an unusual course].

In developed countries, Hansen disease, or leprosy, is a rare and little-known disease. Over the last few years, its prevalence in New Caledonia has remained stable (0.35 per 10,000 inhabitants).

[Profile of leprosy in New Caledonia. Evolution from 1983-1998].

The authors report the results of a retrospective study on the evolution of leprosy in New-Caledonia, French island in Oceania, between 1983, time of the onset of polychemotherapy (PCT), and 1998. Since 1996, the prevalence is and remains less than 1/10,000. The annual rate detection fall from 15.

[Leprosy in New Caledonia from 1983 to 1992. Histopathological and epidemiological data].

New Caledonia is a South Pacific Island inhabited by more than 170,000 people: most of them are melanesians or europeans. Multidrug therapy for Hansen disease has been employed since 1983; so we made an epidemiologic and histopathologic study of the new cases diagnosed for 10 years, from 1983 to 1992. Local (clinical, histological, microbiological and immunological) means of diagnosis are described.