| epidemiology of leprosy. | | 2004 | 15755207 |
| the relapse rate in mb leprosy patients treated with 2-years of who-mdt is not low. | a group of multibacillary patients is clearly at high risk for relapse following 2-yr who-mdt. relapse is largely confined to bl or ll patients with a high bi initially, and occurs long after the discontinuation of therapy. this important group of patients at risk for treatment failure presents several important issues: the need to identify those at risk and the operational requirements needed for their long term follow-up. also, this group of patients might well benefit from an alternative anti ... | 2004 | 15755209 |
| the 6th who tag report: validation and "non-existent patients". | | 2004 | 15755210 |
| high resolution shadowing of mycobacterium leprae. | metal shadow casting techniques for transmission electron microscopic examination was used to determine the morphological characteristics of mycobacterium leprae in untreated and treated patients. this technique is used to visualize bacterial surface structures by thermal evaporation of platinum alloys under moderate vacuum. this method gives a high contrast image at relatively low resolution and is useful for correlating micro-morphology quantitatively to early therapeutic effects of anti-lepro ... | 2004 | 15764287 |
| [detection of antibodies to m. leprae in saliva of lepric patients]. | saliva of 116 lepric patients were scanned for antibodies in elisa (with m. leprae cultivated in vitro used as antigen) in order to work out an invasion-free diagnostic tool for lepra. the elisa findings for "saliva-serum" pairs from same patients showed an increased level of antibodies both in serum and saliva in 39.7% of cases, and matching of results (positive and negative ones) was observed in 73.3% of patients. the increasing level of specific antibodies as observed in intensification of th ... | 2005 | 15765658 |
| antigenic trigger for type 1 reaction in leprosy. | type 1 (reversal or upgrading) reactions occur during or after chemotherapy in around 10% leprosy patients [int j lepr other mycobact dis 61 (1993) 8-15]. the cause of this immunological upgrading is incompletely defined, although the approximately 2-fold increased risk of reaction in patients vaccinated with mycobacterium w suggests that infection by mycobacteria other than mycobacterium leprae may trigger this phenomenon [vaccine 13 (1995) 1102-1110]. we report a case of borderline lepromatous ... | 2005 | 15780420 |
| microscopic leprosy skin lesions in primary neuritic leprosy. | the histologic diagnosis of primary neuritic leprosy (pnl) remains a public health care concern, especially when nerve biopsies cannot be performed. as such, some authors emphasize the importance of performing a skin biopsy of a hypoesthetic area even without clinically visible lesions. in this study, an attempt was made to define the histologic changes in the sensory altered skin of 42 clinically diagnosed pnl patients. histologic alterations caused by leprosy were seen in 31% of these patients ... | 2005 | 15793516 |
| leprosy: too complex a disease for a simple elimination paradigm. | can leprosy be eliminated? this paper considers the question against the background of the who programme to eliminate leprosy. in 1991 the world health assembly set a target of eliminating leprosy as a public health problem by 2000. elimination was defined as reaching a prevalence of < 1 case per 10 000 people. the elimination programme has been successful in delivering highly effective antibiotic therapy worldwide. however, despite this advance, new-case detection rates remain stable in countri ... | 2005 | 15798849 |
| lepromatous iridocyclitis. | a 36-year-old woman with no prior medical history presented with a unilateral decrease in vision and iridocyclitis to our hospital. external examination demonstrated multifocal, firm, elevated, non-tender skin nodules on the patient's face and left hand. in addition, slit-lamp biomicroscopy revealed gray, cheesy-appearing nodules on the iris surface of the affected eye. anterior chamber paracentesis and pars plana vitrectomy did not reveal further information. skin nodule biopsy, however, demons ... | 2005 | 15804778 |
| misidentification of mycobacterium leprae as mycobacterium intracellulare by the cobas amplicor m. intracellulare test. | commercially available nucleic acid probe- and amplification-based systems for detection and differentiation of mycobacteria are widely used in clinical microbiology laboratories. here we report two cases of human leprosy in which the cobas amplicor mycobacterium intracellulare test led to false- positive results. correct identification of mycobacterium leprae was possible only by amplification and comparative sequence analysis of the 16s rrna gene. | 2005 | 15815021 |
| [correlation between dose/plasma concentration and assessment of hepatic and renal changes in wistar rats treated with the rom scheme]. | leprosy, a chronic granulomatous infectocontagious disease transmitted by mycobacterium leprae, continues to be prevalent today, especially in underdeveloped countries and its paucibacillary form with a single lesion is being treated with rifampicin (600mg), ofloxacin (400mg) and minocycline (100mg) administered as a single dose (rom scheme). thus, the objective of the present study was to investigate the dose/plasma concentration correlation versus biochemical changes occurring in male wistar r ... | 2005 | 15821793 |
| are viable mycobacterium leprae present in lepromatous patients after completion of 12 months' and 24 months' multi-drug therapy? | a study was carried out to determine whether or not viable bacilli persist in mb patients treated with 12-month and 24-month multidrug therapy (mdt). in the first group, 60 untreated lepromatous patients who had an initial average bacterial index (bi) of 3+ or more were enrolled. at the completion of 12 months of mdt, skin biopsies were obtained and m. leprae concentrate was inoculated into the footpads of five thymectomized and irradiated (t900r) mice. rees technique was used for the mouse foot ... | 2004 | 15835604 |
| identification of an immunomodulating agent from mycobacterium leprae. | a search for an immunomodulating agent from mycobacteria was carried out using mycobacterium leprae. the antigenicity of each fraction of the bacterial membrane, which contains the most antigenic components of m. leprae, was assessed by using sera from paucibacillary leprosy. n-terminal sequencing of the serum-reactive protein and functional assessment of the membrane fractions using monocyte-derived dendritic cells (dcs) identified major membrane protein ii (mmp-ii) as one of the efficient t-ce ... | 2005 | 15845477 |
| leprosy as a challenge to science on the ability to decode its enigma. a hypothesis on how to respond. | in world leprosy nowadays, a favorable epidemiologic trend has been provided due to the best effort of the worldwide campaign with chemotherapy providing a bright but one-sided look at the future. however, the numbers of new patients are still higher than those under chemotherapy, leaving a concern over the remaining non-human source of infection. to overcome that plausibility, overall understanding of the etiology of the disease should be improved. the author discussed this by the analyses of h ... | 2005 | 15858280 |
| leprosy. | | 2004 | 15865707 |
| current epidemiology of leprosy. | every year around 4,00,000 new cases of leprosy occur in india and india contributes about 80% of the global leprosy case load. the prevalence of leprosy (case load per 1,00,000 population) has come down from 52 per 10,000 in 1981 to 2.4 per 10,000 in july 2004. there is no primary prevention for leprosy. multidrug therapy is the only intervention available against the disease. as of july 2004 there were about 2,40,000 leprosy cases on record in india. there are thirteen states and union territo ... | 2004 | 15871348 |
| clinical manifestations, diagnosis and classification of leprosy. | mycobacterium leprae, the causative organism of leprosy is slow-growing and the reason is its long incubation period of 2-4 years. males are predominantly affected and deformity is produced in less than 2% of people affected with the disease. the disease manifests in the skin as macules, papules, nodules, plaques or infiltration. hypopigmented or erythematous skin patches with definite sensory deficit is one of the clinical cardinal signs by which one can make a definite diagnosis. demonstration ... | 2004 | 15871350 |
| challenges presented by nerve damage in leprosy. | the basis of nerve damage in leprosy is the unique tendency of mycobacterium leprae to invade schwann cells. alphabeta-dystroglycan on the basement membrane of schwann cells binds to laminin alpha2, in turn binding to receptors on the m. leprae surface, comprising a histone-like protein and phenoglycolipid-1. when nerve damage during reversal reactions was found to be associated with an abrupt increase in delayed type hypersensitivity against m. leprae antigenic determinants released from schwan ... | 2005 | 15881032 |
| [development of antileprosy vaccines]. | the absence of an effective antileprosy vaccine, capable of preventing the spread of leprosy hinders its control in endemic countries. developing such a vaccine is highly difficult due to the absence of reproducible methods for the in vitro cultivation of mycobacterium leprae. the results of field trials of earlier proposed vaccines (bcg and bcg in combination with killed m. leprae) are indicative of their insufficient efficacy. the article presents a review of literature, including historical i ... | 2005 | 15881952 |
| immunostimulatory activity of major membrane protein-ii from mycobacterium leprae. | we examined the antigenicity of an immunomodulatory protein, major membrane protein (mmp)-ii, from mycobacterium leprae, since host defense against m. leprae largely depends on adaptive immunity. both unprimed and memory t cells from healthy individuals were stimulated by autologous mmp-ii-pulsed monocyte-derived dendritic cells (dcs) to produce ifn-gamma. the dc-mediated ifn-gamma production was dependent on the expression of mhc, cd86, and mmp-ii antigens. memory t cells from paucibacillary (p ... | 2005 | 15885677 |
| microbiology. global spread of leprosy tied to human migration. | | 2005 | 15890850 |
| on the origin of leprosy. | leprosy, a chronic human disease with potentially debilitating neurological consequences, results from infection with mycobacterium leprae. this unculturable pathogen has undergone extensive reductive evolution, with half of its genome now occupied by pseudogenes. using comparative genomics, we demonstrated that all extant cases of leprosy are attributable to a single clone whose dissemination worldwide can be retraced from analysis of very rare single-nucleotide polymorphisms. the disease seems ... | 2005 | 15894530 |
| leprosy research declines, but most of the basic questions remain unanswered. | | 2005 | 15898836 |
| a potentially new treatment for tuberculosis; will a diarylquinoline work for leprosy? | | 2005 | 15898838 |
| some considerations on the origin of type 1 reactions in leprosy. | | 2005 | 15898839 |
| comparison between c57bl/6 and c57bl/10 mycobacterial mouse pleurisy with respect to cellular migration and nitric oxide production. | mycobacterium bovis-bcg (bcg) and mycobacterium leprae (ml) have opposite inflammatory properties. mycobacteria-induced pleurisy in c57bl/6 and c57bl/10 mice was evaluated to establish if their innate responses could be comparable, verifying cellular migration and nitrite production. kinetic responses after ml or bcg intrathoracic injection were compared in those mice, sharing the h-2(b) mhc haplotype. bcg led to acute eosinophilia and late neutrophilia in both mice. in c57bl/6 late pleurisy, mo ... | 2004 | 15901414 |
| detection of mycobacterium leprae in nasal mucosa biopsies by the polymerase chain reaction. | several discoveries about leprosy indicate that mycobacterium leprae transmission mainly occurs by inhalation, and the nose is major port of entry and exit. the present study evaluated the clinical application of pcr for detection of m. leprae dna in nasal mucosa biopsies in untreated leprosy patients (52) and their contacts (99) from the state reference center in sanitary dermatology and leprosy, uberlandia, mg, brazil. pcr detection of a 372-base pair dna fragment from m. leprae was accomplish ... | 2005 | 15907454 |
| contribution of the mycobacterium tuberculosis mmpl protein family to virulence and drug resistance. | the genome sequence of mycobacterium tuberculosis revealed the presence of 12 membrane proteins proposed to have a function in the transport of lipids. insertional inactivation of 11 of these has revealed that only 1 (mmpl3) is apparently essential for viability. five of these proteins are conserved within the genome of mycobacterium leprae. the drug susceptibilities of these 11 mutants to a broad spectrum of agents are unaltered, suggesting that unlike their function in other organisms, these p ... | 2005 | 15908378 |
| mapping the laminin-binding and adhesive domain of the cell surface-associated hlp/lbp protein from mycobacterium leprae. | binding of mycobacterium leprae to and invasion of schwann cells (sc) represent a crucial step that initiates nerve damage in leprosy. we and others have described that m. leprae colonization of the peripheral nerve system may be mediated in part by a surface-exposed histone-like protein (hlp), characterized as a laminin-binding protein (lbp). hlp/lbp has also been shown to play a role in the binding of mycobacteria to alveolar epithelial cells and macrophages. in the present study we report tha ... | 2005 | 15919224 |
| subcellular localization of mycobacteria in tissues and detection of lipid antigens in organelles using cryo-techniques for light and electron microscopy. | the survival of intracellular pathogens within a host is determined by microbial evasion, which can be partially attributed to their subcellular trafficking strategies. microscopic techniques have become increasingly important in understanding the cell biology of microbial infections. these recently developed techniques can be used for the subcellular localization of antigens not only in cultured cells but also within tissues such as mycobacterium tuberculosis in lung and mycobacterium leprae in ... | 2005 | 15939357 |
| cloning of mce1 locus of mycobacterium leprae in mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155 smr5 and evaluation of expression of mce1 genes in m. smegmatis and m. leprae. | plasmid pset152 is a broad host range mobilizable vector which integrates into streptomyces chromosome utilizing att site and int function of slashed circlec31. transformation of this plasmid into mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155 smr5 gave stable transformants carrying the pset152 as an integrated copy. integration occurred at the cross over sequence 5'ttg disrupting the gata gene (glu-trna(gln) amidotransferase subunita), which is non-essential under conditions used. recombinant pset152 plasmids ... | 2005 | 15949925 |
| insights into regulation of human schwann cell proliferation by erk1/2 via a mek-independent and p56lck-dependent pathway from leprosy bacilli. | activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (erk) 1/2, which plays a critical role in diverse cellular processes, including cell proliferation, is known to be mediated by the canonical raf-mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (mek) kinase cascade. alternative mek-independent signaling pathways for erk1/2 activation in mammalian cells are not known. during our studies of human primary schwann cell response to long-term infection of mycobacterium leprae, the causative organism of lepros ... | 2005 | 15967991 |
| lucio's phenomenon: a case report and review of the literature. | | 2005 | 15985025 |
| immunogenic membrane-associated proteins of mycobacterium tuberculosis revealed by proteomics. | membrane-associated proteins of mycobacterium tuberculosis offer a challenge, as well as an opportunity, in the quest for better therapeutic and prophylactic interventions against tuberculosis. the authors have previously reported that extraction with the detergent triton x-114 (tx-114) is a useful step in proteomic analysis of mycobacterial cell membranes, and detergent-soluble membrane proteins of mycobacteria are potent stimulators of human t cells. in this study 1-d and 2-d gel electrophores ... | 2005 | 16000731 |
| [how leprosy has invaded the world]. | | 2005 | 16025895 |
| is there an answer? is there a genetic basis for human susceptibility to leprosy? | | 2005 | 16036571 |
| report on the first meeting of the ideal (initiative for diagnostic and epidemiological assays for leprosy) consortium held at armauer hansen research institute, alert, addis ababa, ethiopia on 24-27 october 2004. | | 2005 | 16038248 |
| leprosy and hiv co-infection in five patients. | in a retrospective study, five patients are reported who suffered from a mycobacterium leprae/hiv co-infection and were treated for their hiv infection with haart. in four patients, this revealed their leprosy and induced a type i leprosy reaction. two patients who were lepromin negative at diagnosis were retested after about 1 year of anti-retroviral treatment, and found to be positive. | 2005 | 16038250 |
| leprosy acquired by inoculation from a knee injury. | this case study reports on the development of clinical leprosy in a young caucasian female from a non-endemic country who contracted the disease while living in a leprosy endemic country. in the presentation and discussion, some relevant factors will be reviewed and discussed that may play a role in the transmission, susceptibility and clinical development of the disease. | 2005 | 16038253 |
| factors associated with severe granulomatous pneumonia in mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected mice vaccinated therapeutically with hsp65 dna. | resistant c57bl/6 mice infected in the lungs with mycobacterium tuberculosis and then therapeutically vaccinated with mycobacterium leprae-derived hsp65 dna develop severe granulomatous pneumonia and tissue damage. analysis of cells accumulating in the lungs of these animals revealed substantial increases in t cells secreting tumor necrosis factor alpha and cd8 cells staining positive for granzyme b. stimulation of lung cells ex vivo revealed very high levels of interleukin-10, some of which was ... | 2005 | 16041037 |
| a study on trend of relapse in leprosy and factors influencing relapse. | a retrospective analysis of data pertaining to the rural field operation area of the central leprosy teaching and research institute, chengalpattu, tamil nadu, was carried out to determine the magnitude of relapse after mdt and its significance with other variables. the study included 3248 leprosy patients who have successfully completed treatment during 1987-2003, of whom 2892 were pb and 356 mb cases. a total of 58 cases of relapse was reported which gives a crude cumulative relapse rate of 1. ... | 2005 | 16044808 |
| use of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction for the detection of mycobacterium leprae in the slit-skin smears of leprosy patients. | the relevance of bacterial index (bi) for understanding the prognosis of leprosy patients on treatment has been extensively debated, as it does not give a very clear idea of the viability of the bacteria in patients under treatment. here we used slit-skin smear samples of leprosy patients to test the suitability for studying viability of mycobacterium leprae using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr). for this purpose, we recruited 13 multibacillary (mb) leprosy patients (8 l ... | 2005 | 16044809 |
| leprosy scenario in southern part of dakshina kannada district, karnataka, after 16 years of control work. | this article examines the changes that occurred in epidemiological indices over a period of 16 years following the introduction of mdt in ullal town, south of mangalore city, having a population of 130,000. the analysis indicates that new case-detection rates and prevalence rates showed a declining trend due to shorter duration of treatment with mdt. there was a ten-fold reduction in the prevalence rate during the first 6 years, from 23 in 1987 (230 cases) to 2.76 per 10,000 (29 cases) at the en ... | 2005 | 16044810 |
| fnac study of histoid nodule: an early tool for diagnosis. | histoid lesion, a variety of lepromatous leprosy, is due to alteration in the growth pattern of mycobacterium leprae, possibly due to loss of immunity in localized areas. the distinction is based on cellular morphology by demonstrating pallisading arrangement of multi-layered spindle-shaped histocytes. cytodiagnosis by fine needle aspiration cytology is therefore an early tool to recognize the histoid variety, differentiating it from a conventional ll module, as it is a simple and less traumatic ... | 2005 | 16044811 |
| borderline tuberculoid leprosy localised over a scar. | | 2005 | 16044818 |
| mycobacterium leprae induces nf-kappab-dependent transcription repression in human schwann cells. | mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, invades peripheral nerve schwann cells, resulting in deformities associated with this disease. nf-kappab is an important transcription factor involved in the regulation of host immune antimicrobial responses. we aimed in this work to investigate nf-kappab signaling pathways in the human st88-14 schwannoma cell line infected with m. leprae. gel shift and supershift assays indicate that two nf-kappab dimers, p65/p50 and p50/p50, translocate to ... | 2005 | 16055086 |
| [diagnostic tests: mycobacterium leprae]. | | 2005 | 16111215 |
| postgenomic approach to identify novel mycobacterium leprae antigens with potential to improve immunodiagnosis of infection. | early detection of mycobacterium leprae infection is considered an important component of strategies aiming at reducing transmission of infection, but currently available diagnostic tools often lack sufficient sensitivity and specificity to reach this goal. recent comparative genomics have revealed the presence of 165 m. leprae genes with no homologue in m. tuberculosis. we selected 17 of these genes for further study. all 17 genes were found to be expressed at the mrna level in m. leprae from i ... | 2005 | 16113281 |
| the dimycocerosate ester polyketide virulence factors of mycobacteria. | recent advances in the study of mycobacterial lipids indicate that the class of outer membrane lipids known as dimycocerosate esters (dims) are major virulence factors of clinically relevant mycobacteria including mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae. dims are a structurally intriguing class of polyketide synthase-derived wax esters discovered over seventy years ago, yet, little was known until recently about their biosynthesis. availability of several mycobacterial genomes has ac ... | 2005 | 16115688 |
| [a role of polymerase chain reaction in the diagnosis of leprosy]. | | 2005 | 16130429 |
| rifapentine, moxifloxacin, or dna vaccine improves treatment of latent tuberculosis in a mouse model. | priorities for developing improved regimens for treatment of latent tuberculosis (tb) infection include (1) developing shorter and/or more intermittently administered regimens that are easier to supervise and (2) developing and evaluating regimens that are active against multidrug-resistant organisms. | 2005 | 16151038 |
| a recessive major gene controls the mitsuda reaction in a region endemic for leprosy. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae. the mitsuda reaction is a delayed granulomatous skin reaction elicited by intradermal injection of heat-killed m. leprae. interestingly, results of the mitsuda test are positive in the majority of individuals, even in areas not endemic for m. leprae. like leprosy, the mitsuda reaction is thought to be genetically controlled, but its mode of inheritance is unknown, although the role of the nramp1 gene has previously been repo ... | 2005 | 16170767 |
| genetic polymorphism among mycobacterium leprae strains from northern india, by using ttc repeats. | | 2005 | 16173423 |
| identification and characterization of an immunogenic 22 kda exported protein of mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis. | an exported 22 kda putative lipoprotein was identified in an alkaline phosphatase gene fusion library of mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis and expressed in mycobacterium smegmatis. the full nucleic acid sequence of the gene encoding p22 was determined and the orf was cloned into a mycobacterial expression vector, enabling full-length p22 to be produced as a c-terminal polyhistidine-tagged protein in m. smegmatis. n-terminal sequencing of the recombinant protein confirmed cleavage of a ... | 2005 | 16192441 |
| neurological manifestations of hansen's disease and their management. | hansen's disease is almost eliminated from developed countries but in developing countries of africa, asia and latin america leprosy is still considered to be a public health problem. mycobacterium leprae have the affinity for peripheral nerves and neuropathy is a cardinal manifestation of the disease. the nerve damage affects sensory, motor, and autonomic fibers resulting in the physical impairments and limitation of physical activities and social participation. leprosy is a curable disease and ... | 2005 | 16202816 |
| hiv and leprosy in the eastern united states. | | 2005 | 16206087 |
| diversity of potential short tandem repeats in mycobacterium leprae and application for molecular typing. | a recent advance in molecular typing for tracing the transmission of leprosy is the discovery of short tandem repeats (strs) in mycobacterium leprae. to substantiate polymorphic loci from str as promising candidates for molecular typing tools in leprosy epidemiology, 44 str loci including 33 microsatellites and 11 minisatellites were investigated among 27 laboratory strains by sequencing pcr products. not all strs were necessarily polymorphic. thirty-two out of the 44 loci were polymorphic. nine ... | 2005 | 16207987 |
| allergic sensitisation in tuberculosis and leprosy patients. | a negative association has been observed between infections and allergy in several studies. the aim of the present study was to examine whether tuberculosis and leprosy patients have more or fewer allergies than healthy individuals. | 2005 | 16210860 |
| cytokines and mycobacterium leprae induce apoptosis in human schwann cells. | the development of deformities during the course of leprosy disease is a major public health concern worldwide. it is possible that cytokine production and apoptosis of schwann cells (scs) directly affect nerve degeneration and regeneration leading to injury of the myelin sheath and axon. in the present study, the expression of tnfalpha, tgfbeta, and their receptors, in addition to cell death triggered by cytokines or whole mycobacterium leprae were investigated in a human sc line. the results s ... | 2005 | 16215460 |
| same-sex mating and the origin of the vancouver island cryptococcus gattii outbreak. | genealogy can illuminate the evolutionary path of important human pathogens. in some microbes, strict clonal reproduction predominates, as with the worldwide dissemination of mycobacterium leprae, the cause of leprosy. in other pathogens, sexual reproduction yields clones with novel attributes, for example, enabling the efficient, oral transmission of the parasite toxoplasma gondii. however, the roles of clonal or sexual propagation in the origins of many other microbial pathogen outbreaks remai ... | 2005 | 16222245 |
| the "domino theory" of gene death: gradual and mass gene extinction events in three lineages of obligate symbiotic bacterial pathogens. | during the adaptation of an organism to a parasitic lifestyle, various gene functions may be rendered superfluous due to the fact that the host may supply these needs. as a consequence, obligate symbiotic bacterial pathogens tend to undergo reductive genomic evolution through gene death (nonfunctionalization or pseudogenization) and deletion. here, we examine the evolutionary sequence of gene-death events during the process of genome miniaturization in three bacterial species that have experienc ... | 2006 | 16237210 |
| vaccination with a sindbis virus-based dna vaccine expressing antigen 85b induces protective immunity against mycobacterium tuberculosis. | to improve dna vaccination against mycobacterium tuberculosis, we evaluated the effectiveness of a sindbis virus-based dna construct expressing the tuberculosis antigen 85b (sin85b). the protective efficacy of sin85b was initially assessed by aerogenically challenging immunized c57bl/6 mice with virulent mycobacterium tuberculosis. at 1 and 7 months postinfection, the lung bacterial burdens were considerably reduced and the lung pathology was improved in vaccinated mice compared to naive control ... | 2005 | 16239577 |
| first report of leprosy presenting as acute polyarthritis in the setting of type i downgrading lepra reaction. | leprosy is a rare cause of acute polyarthritis. we describe the occurrence of oedema of the hands and feet and acute polyarthritis in the setting of type i (downgrading) lepra reaction in an untreated patient with borderline leprosy. this case report further expands the range of articular manifestations that can occur in leprosy. | 2006 | 16247582 |
| leprosy in wild armadillos. | wild nine-banded armadillos (dasypus novemcinctus) in the south central united states are highly endemic natural hosts of mycobacterium leprae. surveys conducted over the last 30 years on more than 5000 animals confirm that the infection is present among armadillos in arkansas, louisiana, mississippi and texas. highest prevalence rates are found among the animals in low-lying alluvial and coastal areas, primarily in louisiana and texas. both animal density and local factors may contribute to the ... | 2005 | 16248207 |
| role of pgl-i antibody detection in the diagnosis of pure neural leprosy. | pure neural leprosy (pnl) is difficult to diagnose because skin lesions and acid-fast bacilli (afb) in slit smears are absent. at present, the gold standard for pnl diagnosis is the histopathological examination of a peripheral nerve biopsy. even so, detection of bacteria is difficult and histological findings may be non-specific. furthermore, nerve biopsy is an invasive procedure that is only possible in specialized centres. therefore, there is a need for additional diagnostic methods that may ... | 2005 | 16248210 |
| clinical, histopathological and bacteriological study of 52 referral mb cases relapsing after mdt. | fifty-two bb-ll relapse cases referred to our centre during 1997-2003 were investigated in detail. twenty-four cases had been treated with extended mb-mdt [until smear negativity (non-fdt)]. the remaining 28 cases (54%) had received one of the fixed duration regimens (fdt), of whom 11 had 24 months and 6 had 12 months of who mb-mdt. eleven cases had received rifampicin/ofloxacin (ro) treatment. follow-up slit skin smear reports were available for 41 cases, all but three cases had been smear nega ... | 2005 | 16248211 |
| immunomodulation and protection induced by dna-hsp65 vaccination in an animal model of arthritis. | we described a prophylactic and therapeutic effect of a dna vaccine encoding the mycobacterium leprae 65-kda heat shock protein (dna-hsp65) in experimental murine tuberculosis. however, high homology of the vaccine to the corresponding mammalian hsp60, together with the cpg motifs in the plasmidial vector, could trigger or exacerbate an autoimmune disease. in the present study, we evaluate the potential of dna-hsp65 vaccination to induce or modulate arthritis in mice genetically selected for acu ... | 2005 | 16259568 |
| [serological tests in the diagnosis of tuberculosis]. | | 2005 | 16276690 |
| hijacking the erk signaling pathway: mycobacterium leprae shuns mek to drive the proliferation of infected schwann cells. | schwann cells are the target of mycobacterium leprae, the pathogen responsible for leprosy. once inside the cell, m. leprae activates the host's proliferative machinery, thereby increasing the number of cells susceptible to infection. this astonishing manipulation of the mammalian cell cycle is the subject of recent work by tapinos and rambukkana, who show that m. leprae drives proliferation through a novel route to extracellular signal-regulated kinase (erk). in this perspective, we discuss thi ... | 2005 | 16278488 |
| genetic, household and spatial clustering of leprosy on an island in indonesia: a population-based study. | it is generally accepted that genetic factors play a role in susceptibility to both leprosy per se and leprosy type, but only few studies have tempted to quantify this. estimating the contribution of genetic factors to clustering of leprosy within families is difficult since these persons often share the same environment. the first aim of this study was to test which correlation structure (genetic, household or spatial) gives the best explanation for the distribution of leprosy patients and sero ... | 2005 | 16307680 |
| nitric oxide scavenging by mycobacterium leprae glbo involves the formation of the ferric heme-bound peroxynitrite intermediate. | ferrous oxygenated (fe(ii)o2) hemoglobins (hb's) and myoglobins (mb's) have been shown to react very rapidly with no, yielding no3(-) and the ferric heme-protein derivative (fe(iii)), by means of the ferric heme-bound peroxynitrite intermediate (fe(iii)oono), according to the minimum reaction scheme: fe(ii)o2 + no (k(on))--> fe(iii)oono (h)--> fe(iii) + no3(-). for most hb's and mb's, the first step (indicated by k(on)) is rate limiting, the overall reaction following a bimolecular behavior. by ... | 2006 | 16307730 |
| the rv0805 gene from mycobacterium tuberculosis encodes a 3',5'-cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase: biochemical and mutational analysis. | mycobacterium tuberculosis is an important human pathogen and has developed sophisticated mechanisms to evade the host immune system. these could involve the use of cyclic nucleotide-dependent signaling systems, since the m. tuberculosis genome encodes a large number of functional adenylyl cyclases. using bioinformatic approaches, we identify, clone, and biochemically characterize the rv0805 gene product, the first cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase identified in m. tuberculosis and a homologue ... | 2005 | 16313172 |
| inferring the pattern of spontaneous mutation from the pattern of substitution in unitary pseudogenes of mycobacterium leprae and a comparison of mutation patterns among distantly related organisms. | the pattern of spontaneous mutation can be inferred from the pattern of substitution in pseudogenes, which are known to be under very weak or no selective constraint. we modified an existing method (gojobori t, et al., j mol evol 18:360, 1982) to infer the pattern of mutation in bacteria by using 569 pseudogenes from mycobacterium leprae. in gojobori et al.'s method, the pattern is inferred by using comparisons involving a pseudogene, a conspecific functional paralog, and an outgroup functional ... | 2005 | 16315108 |
| pure neural leprosy: diagnostic value of the polymerase chain reaction. | pure neural leprosy (pnl) is often difficult to diagnose when acid-fast bacilli (afb) cannot be detected. we undertook the present study to evaluate use of the polymerase chain reaction (pcr) in diagnosing pnl. fifty-eight patients (41 men and 17 women) suspected of pure neural leprosy (pnl) were examined. patients were classified as borderline tuberculoid (bt, 40 cases) and polar tuberculoid (tt, 18 cases) types. nerve biopsy was performed and was positive for afb in 20 patients (all bt patient ... | 2006 | 16315323 |
| leprosy: contribution of mast cells to epineurial collagenization. | leprosy, a disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, is an important health problem worldwide. it is responsible for an irreversible nerve damage in which fibrosis plays an important role. the existence of an interaction between mast cells and different fibrotic conditions has long been observed. tryptase, the most abundant protein product of human mast cells, has been shown to be mitogenic for fibroblasts and to increase type i collagen production. | 2005 | 16320824 |
| detection of neuropathy due to mycobacterium leprae using noninvasive neurosensory testing of susceptible peripheral nerves. | the prevalence of disability in patients with hansen disease is related to peripheral nerve dysfunction. this dysfunction, which is due to chronic nerve compression, is the result of invasion of the peripheral nerve by mycobacteria leprae. this suggests that early identification of m. leprae would be aided by detection of early stages of peripheral nerve compression. traditional evaluation of peripheral nerve function with monofilaments, electrodiagnostic testing, or by observing motor palsy or ... | 2005 | 16327466 |
| leprosy in malaysia. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease and is still a public health problem in malaysia. in 1926, the leper enactment act was established which required compulsory notification and isolation of leprosy patients. as a result, the national leprosy control centre (nlcc) was built in sungai buloh, selangor. in 1969, the national leprosy control programme was launched with the objective of early case finding and decentralisation of treatment of leprosy. the treatment of leprosy patients is integrate ... | 1994 | 16329568 |
| expression of nine-banded armadillo (dasypus novemcinctus) interleukin-2 in e. coli. | the nine-banded armadillo (dasypus novemcinctus) is the only immunologically intact animal that regularly develops lepromatous-type leprosy when inoculated with mycobacterium leprae. however, the ability to exploit this model for understanding the pathogenesis of leprosy has been limited by a lack of suitable immunological reagents. recently, efforts began to sequence the entire armadillo genome, and this sequence information will help make possible the development of a wide array of new immunol ... | 2005 | 16338142 |
| identification of specific proteins and peptides in mycobacterium leprae suitable for the selective diagnosis of leprosy. | diagnosis of leprosy is a major obstacle to disease control and has been compromised in the past due to the lack of specific reagents. we have used comparative genome analysis to identify genes that are specific to mycobacterium leprae and tested both recombinant proteins and synthetic peptides from a subset of these for immunological reactivity. four unique recombinant proteins (ml0008, ml0126, ml1057, and ml2567) and a panel of 58 peptides (15 and 9 mer) were tested for ifn-gamma responses in ... | 2005 | 16339528 |
| a study on the impact of fd-mdt on 200 leprosy patients. | a study was carried out from june 1999 to june 2001 to assess the impact of fixed duration multidrug therapy (fd-mdt) in newly detected cases of leprosy in terms of clinical and neurological improvement and changes in the bacillary index of skin smear for afb. 200 new leprosy cases (both pb & mb) were started on fd-mdt. of these 200 cases, 16 were of pure neuritic leprosy. after treatment, out of 184 cases with typical skin lesions of leprosy, all 26 pb cases showed inactivity of skin lesions, a ... | 2005 | 16353520 |
| [some immunological aspects in the reaccional states of hansen disease]. | the crucial clinical problem in leprosy is represented by episodes of intense inflammation that produce nerve damage. when mycobacterium leprae has been eliminated by means of antibiotics, the death of the bacteria is not a complete solution to the damage caused in nerves. two of the more frequent immunopathological phenomena in hansen's disease are type i, reactions, known as reversal reactions (rr), and type ii reactions, of which the most frequent and well known are those called erythema nodo ... | 2005 | 16353545 |
| dihydropteroate synthase mutations in the folp1 gene predict dapsone resistance in relapsed cases of leprosy. | molecular detection was compared with the mouse footpad inoculation test for detection of dapsone resistance in 38 strains of mycobacterium leprae. mutations of the folp1 gene (at codons 53 or 55) were found in 6 of 6 strains with high-level resistance, in 3 of 4 strains with intermediate-level resistance, and in 1 of 6 strains with low-level resistance, but not in 22 dapsone-susceptible strains. in cases of infection with strains of m. leprae carrying the folp1 mutation, therapy with dapsone ma ... | 2006 | 16355335 |
| the global campaign to eliminate leprosy. | | 2005 | 16363908 |
| antigen discovery: a postgenomic approach to leprosy diagnosis. | leprosy is an infectious, neurodegenerative disease of humans caused by mycobacterium leprae. despite effective control programs, the incidence of leprosy remains stubbornly high, suggesting that transmission may be more common than expected. the rationale of this work was to use bioinformatics and comparative genomics to identify potentially antigenic proteins for diagnostic purposes. this approach defined three classes of proteins: those restricted to m. leprae (class i), those present in m. l ... | 2006 | 16368971 |
| roles of lsr2 in colony morphology and biofilm formation of mycobacterium smegmatis. | the lipid-rich cell wall is a defining feature of mycobacterium species. individual cell wall components affect diverse mycobacterial phenotypes including colony morphology, biofilm formation, antibiotic resistance, and virulence. in this study, we describe a transposon insertion mutant of mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155 that exhibits altered colony morphology and defects in biofilm formation. the mutation was localized to the lsr2 gene. first identified as an immunodominant t-cell antigen of my ... | 2006 | 16385053 |
| diagnostic value of in situ polymerase chain reaction in leprosy. | this prospective study was carried out to assess the diagnostic value of in situ polymerase chain reaction in leprosy, particularly in enhancing the histopathological diagnosis. | 2005 | 16388154 |
| comparison of two systems of classification of leprosy based on number of skin lesions and number of body areas involved--a clinicopathological concordance study. | who guidelines classify leprosy patients for therapeutic purposes into paucibacillary (pb) and multibacillary (mb) leprosy based on the number of skin lesions. an alternative system of classification has been in practice in nepal from 1985 onwards, based on the number of body areas involved in patients of leprosy. we attempted a clinicopathological approach for comparison of these two systems of classification in leprosy patients for their ability to demarcate patients into groups of pb and mb l ... | 2005 | 16394354 |
| skin to skin transmission of leprosy. | | 2005 | 16394427 |
| presence of mycobacterium leprae in epidermal cells of lepromatous skin and its significance. | a 49-year-old man with lepromatous leprosy treated with dapsone monotherapy for 12 years (1967 to 1979) reported in the hospital in 2003, with relapsed disease. a slit skin smear showed a bacteriological index of 4+. biopsies from skin lesions before and after anti-leprosy therapy showed features of lepromatous leprosy. both biopsies showed unusual features of bacillary clumps in epidermal cells demonstrating clearly that dissemination of m. leprae can take place even through unbroken skin. the ... | 2005 | 16394437 |
| infection by mycobacterium leprae of household contacts of lepromatous leprosy patients from a post-elimination leprosy region of colombia. | the leprosy control program of antioquia, (post-elimination leprosy state of colombia), had registered by 1999, 56 lepromatous leprosy patients and their household contacts (hhc). our interest was to detect mycobacterium leprae infection in these hhc. clinical examination, acid-fast bacillary staining (afb) in nasal secretions, and slit skin samples, igm anti-pgl-i in serum and lepromine a (mitsuda) reactivity were tested. two hundred forty eight hhc were studied, 49% were male. after clinical e ... | 2006 | 16410954 |
| analysis of mycobacterium leprae genome: in silico searching for drug targets. | the author performed a database search to find the recorded complete genes with complete sequences of mycobacterium leprae and studied their homology to human genomes by blast method. from a total of 35 genes, the potential candidates for further target-based drug development were identified. | 2005 | 16438214 |
| [detection of mycobacterium leprae with the use of the polymerase chain reaction]. | the review deals with the problem of the detection of the causative agent of lepra in different biological samples with the use of polymerase chain reaction. special attention is drawn to the characterization of the specificity and sensitivity of different target areas of m. leprae dna. | 2005 | 16438389 |
| genome-wide scan for loci influencing quantitative immune response traits in the belém family study: comparison of methods and summary of results. | here we report the results from a genome-wide linkage scan to identify genes and chromosomal regions that influence quantitative immune response traits, using multi-case leprosy and tuberculosis families from north-eastern brazil. total plasma ige, antigen-specific igg to mycobacterium leprae soluble antigen (mlsa), m. tuberculosis soluble antigen (mtsa) and m. tuberculosis purified protein derivative (ppd), and antigen-specific lymphocyte proliferation (stimulation index or si) and interferon-g ... | 2006 | 16441259 |
| lepra vaccine: misinterpreted myth. | | 2006 | 16445512 |
| tissue distribution of a plasmid dna encoding hsp65 gene is dependent on the dose administered through intramuscular delivery. | in order to assess a new strategy of dna vaccine for a more complete understanding of its action in immune response, it is important to determine the in vivo biodistribution fate and antigen expression. in previous studies, our group focused on the prophylactic and therapeutic use of a plasmid dna encoding the mycobacterium leprae 65-kda heat shock protein (hsp65) and achieved an efficient immune response induction as well as protection against virulent m. tuberculosis challenge. in the present ... | 2006 | 16445866 |
| false-positive amplified mycobacterium tuberculosis direct test results for samples containing mycobacterium leprae. | nucleic acid amplification tests are widely used in mycobacteriology laboratories to rapidly detect mycobacterium tuberculosis complex directly in clinical specimens. a positive result provides an early diagnosis of tuberculosis, allowing initiation of appropriate therapy and public health measures. | 2006 | 16455924 |
| regulation of acquired immunity by gamma delta t-cell/dendritic-cell interactions. | in humans, innate immune recognition of mycobacteria, including mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae, involves toll-like receptor-2 (tlr-2), expressed on immature dendritic cells (dcs), and the t-cell gammadelta receptor expressed by a subpopulation of t cells that utilize vdelta2 (vdelta2 t cells). to investigate modulatory relationships between these host-cell populations in a microbial context, in vitro experiments were performed with human dcs and vdelta2 t cells stimulated wi ... | 2005 | 16461791 |
| the debate over leprosy elimination versus sustainability of leprosy services. | | 2005 | 16465825 |
| primary involvement of penile skin in lepromatous leprosy. | skin lesions in lepromatous leprosy (ll) are usually multiple and widespread. though the lesion may occur anywhere on the skin, male genitalia is rarely involved. in all cases reported so far about penile lesions of ll, there were lesions on the other parts of the body also. in some of the cases scrotum was also involved. we report here a patient who presented himself with a single macular lesion of leprosy on the shaft of his penis diagnosed as a case of lepromatous leprosy on slit-skin smear a ... | 2005 | 16465827 |
| elevated serum ccl2 concomitant with a reduced mycobacterium-induced response leads to disease dissemination in leprosy. | mycobacterium leprae and mycobacterium tuberculosis are successful intracellular pathogens which down regulate host immune responses. t-cell interferon-gamma (ifngamma) and macrophage tumour necrosis factor-alpha (tnfalpha) activate chemokines such as, c-c chemokine ligand-2 (ccl2) and ccl5, which play a role in granuloma formation. lepromatous leprosy is characterized by defective granulomas with lowered t-cell- and macrophage-mediated responses. tuberculosis (tb) can be localized to the lung, ... | 2006 | 16499578 |