| in this issue. | evolving backwards: mycobacterium leprae: pp. 3233-3243mycobacterium leprae is responsible for at least 300 000 new cases per year of leprosy (hanson's disease). a gram-positive bacillus, m. leprae has not been cultured in vitro: it is known to grow only in humans, mice and nine-banded armadillos, and, even there it is an obligate intracellular pathogen. the bacterium must have become an obligate intracellular organism relatively recently, judging by the number of pseudogenes and substantial gen ... | 2009 | 19579221 |
| mri imaging of ulnar leprosy abscess. | leprosy is a chronic granulomatous infection, caused by mycobacterium leprae, primarily affecting the peripheral nerve trunks and cutaneous nerves. it classically presents with neural or dermal signs and symptoms. the indolent course of leprosy may manifest as erythema nodosum (appearance of tender inflamed subcutaneous nodule) and reversal reaction (inflammation in the previous skin lesion, appearance of new skin lesions, neuritis and abscess). ulnar nerve is most commonly involved. this report ... | 2009 | 19582989 |
| the diagnostic challenge of hansen's disease. | hansen's disease (hd), formerly referred to as leprosy, actively infects more than 250,000 persons worldwide, with over 2 million currently being treated for sequelae. over 150 cases are annually reported in the u.s. although transmission of hansen's disease to military personnel is rare, physicians caring for those who deploy abroad should be aware of the diagnostic challenges and therapeutic aspects of the disease, as well as its implication for continued military service. additionally, with u ... | 2009 | 19585783 |
| leprosy: a diagnostic trap for dermatopathologists in nonendemic area. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, presenting with different clinicopathological forms. these great variety of presentations make the diagnosis of leprosy a difficult challenge in countries where the disease is not endemic. moreover, a discordance between the clinical and histopathological diagnosis in classifying a case of leprosy can complicate the issue. we report a 43-year-old woman in whom the diagnosis of leprosy was challenging, especially, because the ... | 2009 | 19590409 |
| cd1a and factor xiiia immunohistochemistry in leprosy: a possible role of dendritic cells in the pathogenesis of mycobacterium leprae infection. | leprosy is a curable chronic granulomatous infectious disease caused by the bacillus mycobacterium leprae. this organism has a high affinity for skin and peripheral nerve cells. in the evolution of infections, the immune status of patients determines the disease expression. dendritic cells are antigen-presenting cells that phagocytose particles and microorganisms. in skin, dendritic cells are represented by epidermal langerhans cells and dermal dendrocytes, which can be identified by expression ... | 2009 | 19590423 |
| the diarylquinoline r207910 is bactericidal against mycobacterium leprae in mice at low dose and administered intermittently. | the diarylquinoline r207910 is profoundly bactericidal in a murine model of tuberculosis. previously, r207910 was also found to be bactericidal for mycobacterium leprae-infected mice during lag phase. herein we evaluate the bactericidal efficacy of r207910 (1 to 120 mg/kg of body weight) when administered five times weekly, once weekly, and once monthly during logarithmic multiplication of m. leprae organisms. all treatments were found to be bactericidal, suggesting that both low and intermitten ... | 2009 | 19596891 |
| characterization of mycobacterium leprae reca intein, a laglidadg homing endonuclease, reveals a unique mode of dna binding, helical distortion, and cleavage compared with a canonical laglidadg homing endonuclease. | mycobacterium leprae, which has undergone reductive evolution leaving behind a minimal set of essential genes, has retained intervening sequences in four of its genes implicating a vital role for them in the survival of the leprosy bacillus. a single in-frame intervening sequence has been found embedded within its reca gene. comparison of the m. leprae reca intervening sequence with the known intervening sequences indicated that it has the consensus amino acid sequence necessary for being a lagl ... | 2009 | 19605345 |
| pgl-i leprosy serology. | | 2008 | 19618067 |
| leprosy serology using pgl-i: a systematic review. | serology using a species-specific antigen for mycobacterium leprae, pgl-i, could be a marker for the bacterial load of patients with leprosy. various studies have identified the potential use of serology in the classification of patients for treatment purposes, case monitoring, identification of the risk of relapse and selection of household contacts with a higher risk of contracting the disease. a systematic review of the literature was conducted and 26 articles were included in this comparativ ... | 2008 | 19618069 |
| the result patterns of ml flow and elisa (pgl-i) serologic tests in leprosy-endemic and non-endemic areas. | ml flow and anti-pgl-i elisa are serological tests that detect igm antibodies against the phenolic glycolipid i (pgl-i), specific to mycobacterium leprae. to evaluate the outcomes of ml flow and elisa (pgl-i) serological tests in leprosy-endemic areas in comparison to non-endemic ones, a total of 351 volunteers from brazil and chile were examined, including leprosy patients, healthy controls and others affected by other infectious or non-infectious diseases that are common differential diagnoses ... | 2008 | 19618070 |
| association of the ml flow serologic test to slit skin smear. | a descriptive, exploratory study was conducted analyzing the association of covariables in the results of the ml flow serological test and slit skin smear. a total of 60 leprosy cases diagnosed at the state sanitary dermatology referral center were investigated. slit skin smear samples were collected from four sites and the results were expressed by the bacillary index. ml flow was registered in both qualitative and semi-quantitative terms. cohen's kappa coefficient was used to study the agreeme ... | 2008 | 19618071 |
| the use of serology as an additional tool to support diagnosis of difficult multibacillary leprosy cases: lessons from clinical care. | seven multibacillary leprosy and two suspected cases assisted in different situations during clinical care activities at the university in rio de janeiro city are described. all cases presented some difficulties for diagnosis, since they evolved with few or no cardinal signs or symptoms of leprosy. a serological test used as an auxiliary tool was helpful in the diagnosis or exclusion procedure of each case, facilitating academic discussions at the time of case examination. considering serology a ... | 2008 | 19618072 |
| the influence of ml flow test in leprosy classification. | this is a descriptive, exploratory study correlating ml flow, bacilloscopy and classification of paucibacillary (pb) and multibacillary (mb), involving 1,041 new leprosy cases in 13 municipalities of minas gerais state, from october 2002 to march 2004. agreement between ml flow and the classification of the number of skin lesions and bacilloscopy was moderate (k:0.51 and k:0.48, respectively); and substantial for final classification (k:0.77). from january 2000 to march 2004, the proportion of n ... | 2008 | 19618073 |
| risk factors for ml flow seropositivity in leprosy patients. | the early diagnosis of leprosy, its correct classification and the risk factors related to seropositivity have become important for patient treatment and disease control, especially where the responsibility for treatment has been transferred to basic health care centers. this descriptive, exploratory study using logistic regression was undertaken to evaluate the association between the variables of sex, age, mode of detection, number of skin lesions and affected nerves, disability grade and baci ... | 2008 | 19618074 |
| leprosy serology (ml flow test) in borderline leprosy patients classified as paucibacillary by counting cutaneous lesions: an useful tool. | leprosy remains an endemic disease in brazil, with almost 40,000 new cases diagnosed each year. as it is difficult to perform laboratory procedures in the field, operational classification is determined by counting lesions, which can cause underdiagnosis of multibacillary cases and failures in treatment. to evaluate a new tool to diagnose mb cases, the ml flow test, 21/77 (27.3%) patients with untreated borderline leprosy (6 bl and 15 bt) with 1 to 5 cutaneous lesions were evaluated according to ... | 2008 | 19618075 |
| evaluation of the agreement between clinical and laboratorial exams in the diagnosis of leprosy. | this study examined the correlation between the clinical and laboratory diagnosis of leprosy, using biopsy results from laboratories 'a' and 'b' and the ml flow test. clinical and histopathological diagnoses presented 67.6% agreement. the laboratories showed 73.7% agreement in the bacterial index and laboratory 'b' detected 25.4% more positives. the highest agreement was in the ll form and lowest, in the i form. the highest diagnostic discrepancy was for the bb form. clinical diagnosis agreement ... | 2008 | 19618076 |
| seroprevalence of ml flow test in leprosy contacts from state of minas gerais, brazil. | leprosy is a public health problem in brazil. epidemiological control actions are based on the diagnosis and treatment of leprosy patients and household contact surveillance. serological tests for leprosy could identify from among the contacts those at greater risk of developing leprosy in the future. ml flow was administered to 2,840 household contacts of new leprosy cases diagnosed from october 2002 to march 2004, in state of minas gerais. ml flow was positive in 20.5% of leprosy contacts, wit ... | 2008 | 19618077 |
| association between leprosy reactions after treatment and bacterial load evaluated using anti pgl-i serology and bacilloscopy. | leprosy (hansen's disease, hd) reactions are immune-inflammatory phenomena that occur during the evolution of the disease. given the current criteria for treatment of the disease, this event is often observed after the patient has been released from treatment (rft) from multi-drug therapy (mdt). a case-control study was conducted comparing laboratory results of cases of leprosy reactions after rft from multibacillary mdt (mdt/mb) with a control group to analyze the possible association between p ... | 2008 | 19618079 |
| research regarding anti-pgl-i antibodies by elisa in wild armadillos from brazil. | armadillos have been involved in leprosy transmission and are considered a source of mycobacterium leprae in numerous reports. clinicians from certain areas of the usa consider contact with armadillos a risk factor for leprosy. however, there is a challenge associated with the role of wild armadillos perpetuating human leprosy in the american continent. the presence of anti-pgl-i antibodies was investigated in wild nine-banded armadillos from leprosy-endemic areas in state of espirito santo, bra ... | 2008 | 19618080 |
| the use of ml flow test in school children diagnosed with leprosy in the district of paracatu, minas gerais. | the detection rate of leprosy in the district of paracatu is high in the age group under 15 years-old, including about 6.8/10,000 inhabitants in 2003, and classified as hyperendemic. the study aimed to analyze the application of the pgl-1 (ml flow) serological test in 56 of 68 school-age patients of the public school system, diagnosed with leprosy through active case finding in paracatu, minas gerais state (2004 to 2006), with 71% classified as paucibacillary. of these, 85.2% lived in urban area ... | 2008 | 19618081 |
| the relation between seroprevalence of antibodies against phenolic glycolipid-i among school children and leprosy endemicity in brazil. | leprosy control programs would benefit expressively from an easy method to estimate disease prevalence and to assess the effect of leprosy control measures on disease prevalence. determination of the seroprevalence of antibodies to pgl-i through school children surveys might be a useful indicator of leprosy prevalence at the district level. to investigate whether seropositivity rates could be related to leprosy detection rates and whether seropositivity could be used as a proximal indicator to p ... | 2008 | 19618082 |
| challenges in the post genomic era for the development of tests for leprosy diagnosis. | leprosy diagnosis is based mainly on clinical manifestations and no laboratory test is available to diagnose asymptomatic disease or to predict disease progression among exposed individuals. novel comparative genomic in silico analyses and molecular biology tools have discovered unique mycobacterium leprae proteins with potential diagnostic application. tuberculoid paucibacillary leprosy (pb) shows low antibodies titers and strong th1 type/ ifn-gamma specific cell mediated immunity (cmi), while ... | 2008 | 19618083 |
| analysis of chemokine receptors on the surface of circulating leukocytes of individuals infected with mycobacterium leprae: preliminary results. | in this study, the expression of chemokine receptors on the surface of circulating leukocytes was determined using flow cytometry. an increase in the percentage of ccr2+cd4+ lymphocytes was observed in the peripheral blood of leprosy patients. this preliminary data suggests that alterations occur in the chemokine receptor profile of these patients. | 2008 | 19618084 |
| evaluation of the expression of interleukin 1 beta (il-1beta) and interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (il-1ra) in leprosy patients. | leprosy is an infectious and contagious spectral disease accompanied by a series of immunological events triggered by the host's response to the etiologic agent, mycobacterium leprae. evidence suggests that the induction and maintenance of the immune/inflammatory response in leprosy are linked to multiple cell interactions and soluble factors, mainly through the action of cytokines. the elisa test was used to measure the levels of il-1beta and il-1ra in 37 new leprosy patients followed-up during ... | 2008 | 19618085 |
| mycolyltransferase from mycobacterium leprae excludes mycolate-containing glycolipid substrates. | trehalose dimycolate (tdm) is a major surface-exposed mycolyl glycolipid that contributes to the hydrophobic cell wall architecture of mycobacteria. nevertheless, because of its potent adjuvant functions, pathogenic mycobacteria appear to have evolved an evasive maneuver to down-regulate tdm expression within the host. we have shown previously that mycobacterium tuberculosis (m.tb) and mycobacterium avium (m.av), replace tdm with glucose monomycolate (gmm) by borrowing host-derived glucose as an ... | 2009 | 19628675 |
| comparative sequence analysis of mycobacterium leprae and the new leprosy-causing mycobacterium lepromatosis. | mycobacterium lepromatosis is a newly discovered leprosy-causing organism. preliminary phylogenetic analysis of its 16s rrna gene and a few other gene segments revealed significant divergence from mycobacterium leprae, a well-known cause of leprosy, that justifies the status of m. lepromatosis as a new species. in this study we analyzed the sequences of 20 genes and pseudogenes (22,814 nucleotides). overall, the level of matching of these sequences with m. leprae sequences was 90.9%, which subst ... | 2009 | 19633074 |
| pharmacokinetic of ala and h-ala induced porphyrins in the models mycobacterium phlei and mycobacterium smegmatis. | photodynamic inactivation (pdi) of bacterial strains presents an attractive potential alternative to antibiotic therapies. success is dependent on the effective accumulation in bacterial cells of photochemical substances called photosensitizers, which are usually porphyrins. it is also important to know the distribution of the photosensitizer in bacteria at the microscopic level. the present results examine the accumulation of photosensitizers by mycobacterium phlei and mycobacterium smegmatis, ... | 2009 | 19648025 |
| leprosy in a renal transplant recipient: review of the literature. | a 52-year-old male underwent living-related renal transplantation. he received prednisolone, azathioprine, and cyclosporine as immunosuppression protocol. eleven years after transplantation, he developed pyrexia with multiple nodular lesions on his limbs, trunk, and face. skin biopsy and smears showed the presence of numerous acid-fast bacilli with 5% sulfuric acid indicative of mycobacterium leprae. he was initiated on multidrug therapy (mdt) including dapsone, clofazimine, and rifampicin. afte ... | 2009 | 19656347 |
| helping a man with leprosy: a case study. | this case study illustrates nursing diagnoses and interventions for a man with leprosy. | 2009 | 19659844 |
| novel immunoadjuvants based on cationic lipid: preparation, characterization and activity in vivo. | the interactions between three different protein antigens and dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide (dodab) dispersed in aqueous solutions from probe sonication or adsorbed as one bilayer onto particles was comparatively investigated. the three model proteins were bovine serum albumin (bsa), purified 18 kda/14 kda antigens from taenia crassiceps (18/14-tcra) and a recombinant, heat-shock protein hsp-18 kda from mycobacterium leprae. protein-dodab complexes in water solution were characterized by d ... | 2009 | 19664738 |
| inhibition of the multiplication of mycobacterium leprae by vaccination with a recombinant m. bovis bcg strain that secretes major membrane protein ii in mice. | the ability of a recombinant mycobacterium bovis bcg strain that secretes major membrane protein ii (mmp-ii) of mycobacterium leprae (bcg-sm) to confer protection against leprosy was evaluated by use of a mouse footpad model. c57bl/6j mice intradermally inoculated with bcg-sm produced splenic t cells which secreted significant amounts of gamma interferon (ifn-gamma) in response to either the recombinant mmp-ii, the m. leprae-derived membrane fraction, or the bcg-derived cytosolic fraction in vit ... | 2009 | 19675226 |
| pathogenomics of mycobacteria. | among the 130 species that constitute the genus mycobacterium, the great majority are harmless saprophytes. however, a few species have very efficiently adapted to a pathogenic lifestyle. among them are two of the most important human pathogens, mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae, and one emerging pathogen, mycobacterium ulcerans. their slow growth, virulence for humans and particular physiology make these organisms very difficult to work with, however the need to develop new st ... | 2009 | 19696503 |
| induction of lepromin reactivity in cured lepromatous leprosy patients: impaired chemokine response dissociates protective immunity from delayed type hypersensitivity. | delayed type hypersensitivity (dth) and protective immunity are thought to be tightly linked. remarkable similarity exists between their cellular and immune mechanisms. however, their dissociation is also well known. here we investigate the immunological mechanisms relevant for their dissociation in a group of non-relapsing cured lepromatous leprosy (cll) patients. in these patients, using lepromin reaction as a model system of dth we report critical role of tissue chemokine response in synchron ... | 2009 | 19703581 |
| implications of high level pseudogene transcription in mycobacterium leprae. | the mycobacterium leprae genome has less than 50% coding capacity and 1,133 pseudogenes. preliminary evidence suggests that some pseudogenes are expressed. therefore, defining pseudogene transcriptional and translational potentials of this genome should increase our understanding of their impact on m. leprae physiology. | 2009 | 19706172 |
| [genotyping colombian mycobacterium leprae for determining disease transmission patterns]. | assessing vntr (variable-number tandem repeat) variability of mycobacterium leprae from colombian patients with and without prior treatment to identify potential sources of infection and to understand the patterns of disease transmission. | 2009 | 19721975 |
| mycobacterium leprae induces insulin-like growth factor and promotes survival of schwann cells upon serum withdrawal. | peripheral nerve lesions are considered the most relevant symptoms of leprosy, a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae. the strategies employed by m. leprae to infect and multiply inside schwann cells (scs), however, remain poorly understood. in this study, it is shown that treatment of scs with m. leprae significantly decreased cell death induced by serum deprivation. not displayed by mycobacterium smegmatis or mycobacterium bovis bcg, the m. leprae survival effect was both ... | 2010 | 19732058 |
| protein phosphorylation pattern in the immune cells of leprosy affected individuals. | leprosy is an infectious disease in which the susceptibility to the pathogen mycobacterium leprae and the clinical manifestations are attributed to host immune cell response. receptor mediated events and signalling in the immune cells are mediated by protein phosphorylation. the main signalling pathways and protein kinases known to be involved in the regulation of immune cells are camp dependent kinases, calcium/calmodulin dependent kinases, protein kinase c and mitogen activated protein kinases ... | 2008 | 19738337 |
| the contemporary relevance of the mouse foot pad model for cultivating m. leprae. | | 2009 | 19743615 |
| pcr-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis as a tool for mycobacterium species identification in lepromas for lepromin production. | the aim of the present work was to standardise a pcr-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (pra) as a tool to detect the mycobacteriologic composition of lepromas from leprosy patients used in the production of lepromin to improve the quality of the mitsuda test. | 2009 | 19743617 |
| rapid killing of m. leprae by moxifloxacin in two patients with lepromatous leprosy. | previously we reported a 2-month clinical trial of moxifloxacin therapy in eight patients with mb leprosy (7 ll and 1 bl), finding both rapid killing of m. leprae and clinical improvement, without serious side effects or toxicities. here we report the outcomes in two patients treated with moxifloxacin. | 2009 | 19743625 |
| use of anti-pgl-1 antibodies to monitor therapy regimes in leprosy patients. | the suitability of igm antibodies to pgl-1 for monitoring the response to multidrug therapy (mdt) was sequentially tested by elisa in 105 leprosy patients, and bacterial indexes (bi) were also determined. patients were divided into 3 groups: group 1, 34 multibacillary (mb) patients treated for 12 months with mdt-mb; group 2, 33 mb patients treated for 24 months with mdt-mb, and group 3, 38 paucibacillary (pb) patients treated for 6 months with mdt-pb. untreated mb patients exhibited higher antib ... | 2009 | 19784481 |
| [early diagnosis of leprosy]. | | 1999 | 19785194 |
| [the study of the genome of mycobacterium leprae]. | | 1999 | 19785195 |
| [potential applications of molecular biology to leprosy research]. | | 1999 | 19785196 |
| [vaccine trials against leprosy]. | | 1999 | 19785197 |
| [pathogenic agent and host response]. | | 1999 | 19785198 |
| vaccination with the ml0276 antigen reduces local inflammation but not bacterial burden during experimental mycobacterium leprae infection. | leprosy elimination has been a goal of the who for the past 15 years. widespread bcg vaccination and multidrug therapy have dramatically reduced worldwide leprosy prevalence, but new case detection rates have remained relatively constant. these data suggest that additional control strategies, such as a subunit vaccine, are required to block transmission and to improve leprosy control. we recently identified several mycobacterium leprae antigens that stimulate gamma interferon (ifn-gamma) secreti ... | 2009 | 19786561 |
| cooperation between a coenzyme a-independent stand-alone initiation module and an iterative type i polyketide synthase during synthesis of mycobacterial phenolic glycolipids. | several mycobacterium tuberculosis strains, mycobacterium leprae, and other mycobacterial pathogens produce a group of small-molecule virulence factors called phenolic glycolipids (pgls). pgls play key roles in pathogenicity and host-pathogen interaction. thus, elucidation of the pgl biosynthetic pathway will not only expand our understanding of natural product biosynthesis, but may also illuminate routes to novel therapeutics to afford alternative lines of defense against mycobacterial infectio ... | 2009 | 19799378 |
| [genetic involvement of bacterial sensor molecules in japanese leprosy]. | occurrence of new patients of leprosy, caused by mycobacterium leprae infection, is now almost absent in japan but is still uncontrolled in developing countries. as one factor affecting the disease development, genetic predisposition of a host has been considered to be associated. actually, various gene mutations have been reported to be associated at two stages of the disease progression, not only establishment of the disease but also determination of the phenotype, such as lepromatous (l)-type ... | 2009 | 19803376 |
| leprosy: report of a case with severe peripheral neuropathy. | leprosy (hansen's disease) is a chronic granulomatous infectious disease, caused by mycobacterium leprae, with cutaneous and neurological manifestations. leprosy is very rare in europe but some cases are reported, especially among people coming from endemic areas. here, we report a case of hansen's disease and emphasize the importance of a prompt diagnosis and treatment also in non-endemic areas. | 2010 | 19812892 |
| [leprosy: a rare imported disease]. | although rare in occidental countries, leprosy is an endemic disease throughout the world. physicians may encounter imported cases and thus need to be aware of this diagnosis. we here report a 41-year-old male patient from french west indies who presented with nonspecific extensive skin lesions and a peripheral neuropathy. skin biopsy examination led to the diagnosis of borderline lepromatous leprosy. | 2009 | 19836114 |
| divergence of macrophage phagocytic and antimicrobial programs in leprosy. | effective innate immunity against many microbial pathogens requires macrophage programs that upregulate phagocytosis and direct antimicrobial pathways, two functions generally assumed to be coordinately regulated. we investigated the regulation of these key functions in human blood-derived macrophages. interleukin-10 (il-10) induced the phagocytic pathway, including the c-type lectin cd209 and scavenger receptors, resulting in phagocytosis of mycobacteria and oxidized low-density lipoprotein. il ... | 2009 | 19837374 |
| mycobacterium leprae actively modulates the cytokine response in naive human monocytes. | leprosy is a chronic but treatable infectious disease caused by the intracellular pathogen mycobacterium leprae. host immunity to m. leprae determines the diversity of clinical manifestations seen in patients, from tuberculoid leprosy with robust production of th1-type cytokines to lepromatous disease, characterized by elevated levels of th2-type cytokines and a suboptimal proinflammatory response. previous reports have indicated that m. leprae is a poor activator of macrophages and dendritic ce ... | 2010 | 19841079 |
| induction of cross-priming of naive cd8+ t lymphocytes by recombinant bacillus calmette-guerin that secretes heat shock protein 70-major membrane protein-ii fusion protein. | because mycobacterium bovis bacillus calmette-guérin (bcg) unconvincingly activates human naive cd8(+) t cells, a rbcg (bcg-70m) that secretes a fusion protein comprising bcg-derived heat shock protein (hsp)70 and mycobacterium leprae-derived major membrane protein (mmp)-ii, one of the immunodominant ags of m. leprae, was newly constructed to potentiate the ability of activating naive cd8(+) t cells through dendritic cells (dc). bcg-70m secreted hsp70-mmp-ii fusion protein in vitro, which stimul ... | 2009 | 19846882 |
| single nucleotide polymorphism analysis of european archaeological m. leprae dna. | leprosy was common in europe eight to twelve centuries ago but molecular confirmation of this has been lacking. we have extracted m. leprae ancient dna (adna) from medieval bones and single nucleotide polymorphism (snp) typed the dna, this provides insight into the pattern of leprosy transmission in europe and may assist in the understanding of m. leprae evolution. | 2009 | 19847306 |
| long-term relapse risk of multibacillary leprosy after completion of 2 years of multiple drug therapy (who-mdt) in cebu, philippines. | from 1987 to 1994, we enrolled 500 subjects completing 2-year who multiple drug therapy (mdt) for multibacillary leprosy in a prospective relapse study. relapse was defined as new skin lesions and an increase in the bacterial index (bi) > or = 2+ (> or = 100x) at any single slit-skin smear site. at the study end in 2006, follow-up was 6,401 subject-years, a mean of 12.8 years/subject. we observed 23 relapses, 6-16 years after mdt (mean, 10.5 years; 95% confidence interval [ci], 9.2-11.8), peakin ... | 2009 | 19861628 |
| the cultivation of the leprosy bacillus from the human tissues with special reference to the amino-acids as culture media. | in the cultivation of bacillus leprae the initial multiplication outside the body cannot be obtained unless amino-acids are present in the medium. the amino-acids are believed to be essential nutritives for the initial growth of the organisms. it has been demonstrated that the primary growth of the leprosy bacilli occurs only in the presence of the products of tryptic digestion. hence, putrefactive and other bacteria which are capable of splitting nucleo-proteids into their end acid products are ... | 1911 | 19867417 |
| the behavior of bacillus leprae in cold-blooded animals. | before proceeding to a discussion of the experiments upon cold-blooded animals, it is necessary to review briefly some of the work recently done with the bacillus of leprosy. the appearance of the bacillus in man and its behavior under artificial cultivation, and in the tissues of lower animals, should be considered in order that comparisons may be drawn. in their studies with the organism under cultivation, duval and gurd pointed out that the long, slender, and beaded appearance of the leprosy ... | 1911 | 19867440 |
| experimental immunity with reference to the bacillus of leprosy : part i. a study of the factors determining infection in animals. | repeated experiments have proven that few, if any, of the ordinary laboratory and domestic animals are immune against infection by bacillus leprae. as previously reported, the goat, horse, guinea pig, and many cold-blooded animals (couret) have been found susceptible to invasion by this organism. two factors are of great importance in effecting infection. in the first place, a sufficiently large number of organisms must be employed, and, what is still more important, second and subsequent inocul ... | 1911 | 19867463 |
| the biochemistry of bacillus leprae. | | 1911 | 19867500 |
| the cultivation of amoebae in pure culture upon autolyzed tissues. | since the purpose of this paper is to record the cultivation of amoebae upon autolyzed tissue without bacterial association, the morphological characteristics, life cycle, means of differentiating species, and pathogenicity of the protozoa have been omitted. these subjects will be considered in later publications. the result of this study proves that some species of amoebae from liver abscesses and the human intestine can be cultivated upon various autolyzed tissues of man and some of the lower ... | 1913 | 19867701 |
| the complement fixation reaction as applied to leprosy. | by means of a method differing in important details from those of previous investigators it has been determined that the blood serum of cases of leprosy exhibits the ability to fix complement with a wide variety of antigens including to a greater or less extent those derived from any culture of the acid-fast group of bacteria available to us. this property of multiple fixation may sufficiently characterize the disease to be of diagnostic significance, although our experience is hardly sufficient ... | 1923 | 19868785 |
| cellular reactions to waxes from mycobacterium leprae. | 1. the waxes from the b. leprae, like those from tubercle bacilli, are remarkable stimulants of cells. 2. the crude wax separated from the b. leprae is a mixture of lipoids and other materials, and gives reactions that include the types of cells characteristic of the response to the tuberculo-polysaccharide, phosphatide, and wax. 3. the wax obtained from the purification of the lepra phosphatide shows similar cellular reactions but with a greater proportion of foreign body giant cells. 4. lepros ... | 1935 | 19870447 |
| plasma levels of chemokines during leprosy specific treatment. | leprosy, whose etiologic agent is mycobacterium leprae, is an illness of ample clinical and immunopathological spectrum. although chemokines seem to be involved in the immunopathogenesis of leprosis, few studies have been carried out to unveil the potential of chemokines as biological markers of the disease. the purpose of this study was to investigate the value of measuring ccl2, ccl3, ccl11 and ccl24 in plasma of patients with leprosy (le) at different stages of multi-drug therapy (mdt). chemo ... | 2010 | 19874796 |
| clinical, bacteriological and immunological follow-up of household contacts of leprosy patients from a post-elimination area - antioquia, colombia. | follow-up of the household contacts (hhc) of leprosy patients is still the best strategy for early detection of leprosy. hhc from a post-elimination region of colombia studied in 2001-2002 were re-contacted in 2007. they were tested at both times by clinical examination, bacillary index (bi), pcr from a slit skin smear (sss) and anti pgl-1 igm titres. thirty-two of 61 hhc (52%) were re-contacted. nine hhc (28%) showed sero-conversion and one had a skin lesion (bi negative, nested pcr positive). ... | 2009 | 19876571 |
| comparative genomic and phylogeographic analysis of mycobacterium leprae. | reductive evolution and massive pseudogene formation have shaped the 3.31-mb genome of mycobacterium leprae, an unculturable obligate pathogen that causes leprosy in humans. the complete genome sequence of m. leprae strain br4923 from brazil was obtained by conventional methods (6x coverage), and illumina resequencing technology was used to obtain the sequences of strains thai53 (38x coverage) and nhdp63 (46x coverage) from thailand and the united states, respectively. whole-genome comparisons w ... | 2009 | 19881526 |
| treatment of leprosy/hansen's disease in the early 21st century. | leprosy, or hansen's disease (hd), is caused by mycobacterium leprae, a slowly dividing mycobacterium that has evolved to be an intracellular parasite, causing skin lesions and nerve damage. less than 5% of people exposed to m. leprae develop clinical disease. host cell-mediated resistance determines whether an individual will develop paucibacillary or multibacillary disease. hansen's disease is a worldwide disease with about 150 new cases reported annually in the united states. effective anti-m ... | 2009 | 19889136 |
| tuberculosis and leprosy in perspective. | two of humankind's most socially and psychologically devastating diseases, tuberculosis and leprosy, have been the subject of intensive paleopathological research due to their antiquity, a presumed association with human settlement and subsistence patterns, and their propensity to leave characteristic lesions on skeletal and mummified remains. despite a long history of medical research and the development of effective chemotherapy, these diseases remain global health threats even in the 21st cen ... | 2009 | 19890861 |
| putting leprosy on the map. | | 2009 | 19935762 |
| administration of mycobacterium leprae rhsp65 aggravates experimental autoimmune uveitis in mice. | the 60 kda heat shock protein family, hsp60, constitutes an abundant and highly conserved class of molecules that are highly expressed in chronic-inflammatory and autoimmune processes. experimental autoimmune uveitis [eau] is a t cell mediated intraocular inflammatory disease that resembles human uveitis. mycobacterial and homologous hsp60 peptides induces uveitis in rats, however their participation in aggravating the disease is poorly known. we here evaluate the effects of the mycobacterium le ... | 2009 | 19936251 |
| mutational analysis of active-site residues in the mycobacterium leprae reca intein, a laglidadg homing endonuclease: asp(122) and asp(193) are crucial to the double-stranded dna cleavage activity whereas asp(218) is not. | mycobacterium leprae reca harbors an in-frame insertion sequence that encodes an intein homing endonuclease (pi-mlei). most inteins (intein endonucleases) possess two conserved laglidadg (dod) motifs at their active center. a common feature of laglidadg-type homing endonucleases is that they recognize and cleave the same or very similar dna sequences. however, pi-mlei is distinctive from other members of the family of laglidadg-type heases for its modular structure with functionally separable do ... | 2010 | 19937653 |
| lipid droplet formation in leprosy: toll-like receptor-regulated organelles involved in eicosanoid formation and mycobacterium leprae pathogenesis. | a hallmark of ll is the accumulation of virchow's foamy macrophages. however, the origin and nature of these lipids, as well as their function and contribution to leprosy disease, remain unclear. we herein show that macrophages present in ll dermal lesions are highly positive for adrp, suggesting that their foamy aspect is at least in part derived from ld (also known as lipid bodies) accumulation induced during ml infection. indeed, the capacity of ml to induce ld formation was confirmed in vivo ... | 2010 | 19952355 |
| ideal: in the footsteps of immlep and thelep. | | 2009 | 19961097 |
| molecular epidemiology of mycobacterium leprae: a solid beginning. | | 2009 | 19961098 |
| vntr typing studies of mycobacterium leprae in china: assessment of methods and stability of markers during treatment. | to evaluate the reliability and feasibility of two methods of multilocus variable number of tandem repeat analysis (mlva) for strain typing of m. leprae, and to study whether short tandem repeat loci are stable and suitable for epidemiological study of leprosy. | 2009 | 19961099 |
| a continuation: study and characterisation of mycobacterium leprae short tandem repeat genotypes and transmission of leprosy in cebu, philippines. | to study the stability and allelic diversity of tandem repeat loci in m. leprae in leprosy patients of cebu, philippines, and the suitability of multilocus variable number of tandem repeat (vntr) analysis (mlva) typing for detecting transmission. | 2009 | 19961100 |
| molecular epidemiology of leprosy based on vntr typing in thailand. | recently about 500 new cases of leprosy have been reported each year in thailand. in addition to a steady rate of new case detection, thailand is in southeast asia where leprosy is endemic in neighbouring countries; therefore, strain differentiation could be useful in tracing origins and routes of infection, and general leprosy surveillance. to identify suitable markers for differentiation of m. leprae strains in different global geographic regions and to determine the applicability of a systema ... | 2009 | 19961101 |
| vntr typing of mycobacterium leprae in south indian leprosy patients. | to study the suitability, stability and diversity of short tandem repeat (str) genomic markers to elicit strain variation in the mycobacterium leprae isolates within leprosy patients from andhra pradesh and tamil nadu states in south india. | 2009 | 19961102 |
| genetic diversity of mycobacterium leprae isolates from brazilian leprosy patients. | leprosy is a chronic disease caused by infection with mycobacterium leprae, an obligate intracellular parasite. a problem in studying the transmission of leprosy is the small amount of variation in bacterial genomic dna. the discovery of variable number of tandem repeats (vntrs) allowed the detection of strain variation in areas with a high prevalence of leprosy. four genotypes of m. leprae based on three single-nucleotide polymorphism (snps) were also discovered to be useful for analysis of the ... | 2009 | 19961103 |
| identification and comparison of mycobacterium leprae genotypes in two geographical regions of colombia. | to evaluate and establish genomic strain typing markers suitable for the identification of transmission patterns of leprosy in different regions of colombia. | 2009 | 19961104 |
| various genotypes of mycobacterium leprae from mexico reveal distinct geographic distribution. | to classify mycobacterium leprae isolates from multiple areas in mexico based on variable number of tandem repeats of 6 base within the rpot gene and three single nucleotide polymorphism (snp), and to analyse their geographic distribution in the context of the origin of leprosy in mexico. | 2009 | 19961105 |
| the use of gis in leprosy control. | | 2009 | 19961106 |
| the epidemiological behaviour of leprosy in brazil. | the elimination strategy reduced known leprosy prevalence but the detection rate remains high in many countries, including brazil. the high brazilian detection rate imposes a limit to the reduction of known prevalence in the short term. the knowledge of time behaviour and spatial distribution of leprosy statistics will contribute to decision making for leprosy control. | 2009 | 19961107 |
| characterisation of short tandem repeats for genotyping mycobacterium leprae. | establish a typing system for mycobacterium leprae based on polymorphic dna structures known as short tandem repeats (str). | 2009 | 19994470 |
| evidence for an association of hla-drb1*15 and drb1*09 with leprosy and the impact of drb1*09 on disease onset in a chinese han population. | human leukocyte antigens (hlas) have been proposed to modulate the immune response to mycobacterium leprae. the association of hla-drb1 with leprosy has been reported in several populations, but not in a chinese population. | 2009 | 20003324 |
| usage of signaling in neurodegeneration and regeneration of peripheral nerves by leprosy bacteria. | multiple signaling pathways play key regulatory roles during the development of peripheral nervous system (pns) and also in neuroregeneration process following nerve degeneration. schwann cells, the glial cells of the pns, by interacting with neuronal (axonal) ligands, mainly neuregulins via receptor tyrosine kinase (rtk) complex, erbb2/erbb3, initiate intracellular signaling pathways to drive proliferation and differentiation of schwann cells, both during development and the process of regenera ... | 2010 | 20005916 |
| high matrix metalloproteinase production correlates with immune activation and leukocyte migration in leprosy reactional lesions. | gelatinases a and b (matrix metalloproteinase 2 [mmp-2] and mmp-9, respectively) can induce basal membrane breakdown and leukocyte migration, but their role in leprosy skin inflammation remains unclear. in this study, we analyzed clinical specimens from leprosy patients taken from stable, untreated skin lesions and during reactional episodes (reversal reaction [rr] and erythema nodosum leprosum [enl]). the participation of mmps in disease was suggested by (i) increased mmp mrna expression levels ... | 2010 | 20008541 |
| schwann cells producing matrix metalloproteinases under mycobacterium leprae stimulation may play a role in the outcome of leprous neuropathy. | matrix metalloproteinases (mmps) mediate demyelination and breakdown of the blood-nerve barrier in peripheral neuropathies. matrix metalloproteinases and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 gene expression and secretion were studied in cells of the human schwann cell line st88-14 stimulated with mycobacterium leprae and tumor necrosis factor (tnf) and in nerve biopsies from patients with neural leprosy (n = 21) and nonleprous controls (n = 3). mycobacterium leprae and tnf induced upregulatio ... | 2010 | 20010305 |
| rational design and evaluation of a multiepitope chimeric fusion protein with the potential for leprosy diagnosis. | despite the reduction in the number of leprosy cases registered worldwide as a result of the widespread use of multidrug therapy, the number of new cases detected each year remains stable in many countries. this indicates that mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, is still being transmitted and that, without an earlier diagnosis, transmission will continue and infection will remain a health problem. the current means of diagnosis of leprosy is based on the appearance of clinical ... | 2010 | 20016045 |
| molecular exploration of the first-century tomb of the shroud in akeldama, jerusalem. | the tomb of the shroud is a first-century c.e. tomb discovered in akeldama, jerusalem, israel that had been illegally entered and looted. the investigation of this tomb by an interdisciplinary team of researchers began in 2000. more than twenty stone ossuaries for collecting human bones were found, along with textiles from a burial shroud, hair and skeletal remains. the research presented here focuses on genetic analysis of the bioarchaeological remains from the tomb using mitochondrial dna to e ... | 2009 | 20016819 |
| mycobacterial antigen(s) induce anergy by altering tcr- and tcr/cd28-induced signalling events: insights into t-cell unresponsiveness in leprosy. | present study investigates the role of mycobacterium leprae (m. leprae) antigens on tcr- and tcr/cd28-induced signalling leading to t-cell activation and further correlates these early biochemical events with t-cell anergy, as prevailed in advanced stages of leprosy. we observed that both whole cell lystae (wcl) and soluble fraction of m. leprae sonicate (mlsa) not only inhibited tcr, thapsigargin and ionomycin induced calcium fluxes by diminishing the opening of calcium channels, but also tcr- ... | 2010 | 20018378 |
| genomewide association study of leprosy. | the narrow host range of mycobacterium leprae and the fact that it is refractory to growth in culture has limited research on and the biologic understanding of leprosy. host genetic factors are thought to influence susceptibility to infection as well as disease progression. | 2009 | 20018961 |
| a common genetic fingerprint in leprosy and crohn's disease? | | 2009 | 20018963 |
| genetic and functional analysis of common mrc1 exon 7 polymorphisms in leprosy susceptibility. | the chromosomal region 10p13 has been linked to paucibacillary leprosy in two independent studies. the mrc1 gene, encoding the human mannose receptor (mr), is located in the 10p13 region and non-synonymous snps in exon 7 of the gene have been suggested as leprosy susceptibility factors. we determined that g396s is the only non-synonymous exon 7-encoded polymorphism in 396 unrelated vietnamese subjects. this snp was genotyped in 490 simplex and 90 multiplex leprosy families comprising 704 patient ... | 2010 | 20035344 |
| abnormalities in intracellular processing and expression of interferon-gamma receptor in adherent cells from lepromatous leprosy patients. | peripheral blood mononuclear cells in lepromatous leprosy (ll) patients produce low levels of interferon-gamma (ifn-gamma) and interleukin-12 (il-12), and these cells exhibit partial or complete deficiency in the il-12 receptor. the behavior of the ifn-gamma receptor (ifn-gamma r) has not been described in cells from people with leprosy. we found higher levels of mrna for ifn-gamma r1 and ifn-gamma r2 in adherent cells stimulated with ifn-gamma and mycobacterium leprae membrane proteins from ll ... | 2010 | 20039824 |
| hsp65 dna as therapeutic strategy to treat experimental paracoccidioidomycosis. | the conventional treatment for paracoccidioidomycosis, the most prevalent mycosis in latin america, involves long periods of therapy resulting in sequels and high frequency of relapses. the search for new alternatives of treatment is necessary. previously, we have demonstrated that the hsp65 gene from mycobacterium leprae shows prophylactic effects against murine paracoccidioidomycosis. here, we tested the dnahsp65 immunotherapy in balb/c mice infected with paracoccidioides brasiliensis, the age ... | 2010 | 20045500 |
| presence of oral lesions in leprosy patients does not imply involvement by mycobacterium leprae. | | 2010 | 20056461 |
| the innate immune response in leprosy. | investigation into the innate immune response in leprosy has provided insight into immunoregulation in human infectious disease. key advances include the role of pattern recognition receptors in recognizing pathogen-associated molecular patterns of mycobacterium leprae, cytokine release by innate immune cells, macrophage and dendritic cell differentiation, as well as antimicrobial effector pathways. these insights provide targets for therapeutic intervention in modulating the course of leprosy a ... | 2010 | 20060279 |
| extraction and detection of mycobacterium leprae dna from zncf-stained skin smear slides for better identification of negative skin smears. | abstract identification of mycobacterium leprae, which causes leprosy, is done by ziehl neelsen carbol fuchsin (zncf) stained slit skin smear microscopy that aids in the diagnosis and quantification of approximate bacterial load carried by the patient. we attempted m. leprae dna extraction from 46 stained slit skin smear negative slides, using proteinase k and sds lysis, followed by ethanol precipitation. m. leprae specific primers (16srrna) were used for pcr-based amplification of dna. we could ... | 2010 | 20061767 |
| t regulatory cells and plasmocytoid dentritic cells in hansen disease: a new insight into pathogenesis? | leprosy is characterized by spectrum of histologically different granulomatous skin lesions that reflects the patient's immune response to mycobacterium leprae. presence, frequency, and distribution of both cd4+ cd25+ foxp3+ t regulatory cells (t-regs) and cd123+ plasmacytoid dendritic cells in leprosy have never been investigated. we performed a retrospective immunohistochemical study on 20 cases of leprosy [tuberculoid tuberculoid (tt): 1 patient; borderline tuberculoid (bt): 3 patients; borde ... | 2010 | 20075708 |