Effectiveness of single-dose rifampicin after BCG vaccination to prevent leprosy in close contacts of patients with newly diagnosed leprosy: A cluster randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of single-dose rifampicin (SDR) after bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination in preventing leprosy in contacts.

Methods: This was a single-centre, cluster-randomized controlled trial at a leprosy control programme in northwest Bangladesh. Participants were the 14988 contacts of 1552 new leprosy patients who were randomized into the SDR-arm (n=7379) and the SDR+arm (n=7609).