| editorial commentary: evidences of aerial route of mycobacterium leprae infection and doubts about transmission and natural protection in leprosy. | | 2016 | 27558566 |
| molecular evidence for the aerial route of infection of mycobacterium leprae and the role of asymptomatic carriers in the persistence of leprosy. | leprosy persists as a public health problem. the chain of transmission and mechanism of infection are not completely understood. in the current study, we investigated the route of infection and of disease onset, from airway exposure, colonization, and bloodstream dissemination. | 2016 | 27558564 |
| leprosy treatment during pregnancy and breastfeeding: a case report and brief review of literature. | leprosy is a chronic disease which primarily affects the skin, mucous membranes and peripheral nerves due to mycobacterium leprae. it is now infrequent in europe and is rarely reported during pregnancy. leprosy can be exacerbated during pregnancy, and without treatment it can permanently damage the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. therefore, it is important to treat leprosy during pregnancy. this article describes a patient with multibacillary lepromatous leprosy who was treated with multidrug ther ... | 2017 | 27549245 |
| the role of primary infection of schwann cells in the aetiology of infective inflammatory neuropathies. | numerous different pathogens are responsible for infective peripheral neuropathies and this is generally the result of the indirect effects of pathogen infection, namely anti pathogen antibodies cross reacting with epitopes on peripheral nerve, auto reactive t cells attacking myelin, circulating immune complexes and complement fixation. primary infection of schwann cells (sc) associated with peripheral nerve inflammation is rare requiring pathogens to cross the blood peripheral nerve barrier (bp ... | 2016 | 27546064 |
| presence of viable mycobacterium leprae in environmental specimens around houses of leprosy patients. | leprosy is a chronic systemic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, one of the first organisms to be established as the cause for disease in humans. because of high prevalence pockets of leprosy in the endemic regions, it is necessary to identify the possible sources of m. leprae in the environment and its mode of transmission. | 2017 | 27514953 |
| application of mycobacterium leprae-specific cellular and serological tests for the differential diagnosis of leprosy from confounding dermatoses. | mycobacterium leprae-specific serological and cell-mediated-immunity/cmi test were evaluated for the differential diagnosis of multibacillary/mb, and paucibacillary/pb leprosy from other dermatoses. whole-blood assay/wba/ifnγ stimulated with lid-1 antigen and elisa tests for igg to lid-1 and igm to pgl-i were performed. wba/lid-1/ifnγ production was observed in 72% pb, 11% mb leprosy, 38% dermatoses, 40% healthy endemic controls/ec. the receiver operating curve/roc for wba/lid-1 in pb versus oth ... | 2016 | 27506457 |
| renal amyloidosis in leprosy, an infrequent cause of nephrotic syndrome in europe. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae the main clinical manifestations involve the skin and the peripheral nervous system. several types of nephropathy have been described in leprosy. one frequent form of renal involvement is amyloidosis, especially in patients with lepromatous leprosy. in these patients, end-stage renal disease is an important contributor to morbidity and mortality. here, we present the case of a patient with nephrotic syndrome caused by seconda ... | 2016 | 27489069 |
| profiling of intracellular metabolites: an approach to understanding the characteristic physiology of mycobacterium leprae. | mycobacterium leprae is the causative agent of leprosy and also known to possess unique features such as inability to proliferate in vitro. among the cellular components of m. leprae, various glycolipids present on the cell envelope are well characterized and some of them are identified to be pathogenic factors responsible for intracellular survival in host cells, while other intracellular metabolites, assumed to be associated with basic physiological feature, remain largely unknown. in the pres ... | 2016 | 27479467 |
| dna sensing via tlr-9 constitutes a major innate immunity pathway activated during erythema nodosum leprosum. | the chronic course of lepromatous leprosy may be interrupted by acute inflammatory episodes known as erythema nodosum leprosum (enl). despite its being a major cause of peripheral nerve damage in leprosy patients, the immunopathogenesis of enl remains ill-defined. recognized by distinct families of germline-encoded pattern recognition receptors, endogenous and pathogen-derived nucleic acids are highly immunostimulatory molecules that play a major role in the host defense against infections, auto ... | 2016 | 27474073 |
| spatial and temporal epidemiology of mycobacterium leprae infection among leprosy patients and household contacts of an endemic region in southeast brazil. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that remains a public health problem in low- and middle-income countries. household contacts of leprosy patients (hhcs) have increased risk of developing disease and are important links in the chain of transmission of mycobacterium leprae. based on epidemiological and operational factors, the global elimination strategy depends on the geographic stratification of endemic areas to intensify control activities. the purpose of the study was to integrate epide ... | 2016 | 27469619 |
| diguanylate cyclase activity of the mycobacterium leprae t cell antigen ml1419c. | the second messenger, bis-(3',5')-cyclic dimeric guanosine monophosphate (cyclic di-gmp), is involved in the control of multiple bacterial phenotypes, including those that impact host-pathogen interactions. bioinformatics analyses predicted that mycobacterium leprae, an obligate intracellular bacterium and the causative agent of leprosy, encodes three active diguanylate cyclases. in contrast, the related pathogen mycobacterium tuberculosis encodes only a single diguanylate cyclase. one of the m. ... | 2016 | 27450520 |
| immunohistochemical assessment of cell populations in leprosy-spectrum lesions and reactional forms. | in situ immunophenotyping of leprosy lesions can improve our understanding of the biology of inflammatory cells during the immune response to mycobacterium leprae antigens. in the present study, biopsies from 10 healthy controls and 70 leprosy patients were selected, 10 for each of the following conditions: clinical tuberculoid (tt), borderline tuberculoid (bt), borderline borderline (bb), borderline lepromatous (bl), lepromatous (ll), reversal reaction (r1), and erythema nodosum leprosum (r2). ... | 2017 | 27444702 |
| association between str -794 catt5-8 and snp -173 g/c polymorphisms in the mif gene and lepromatous leprosy in mestizo patients of western mexico. | lepromatous leprosy (ll) is the most common presentation of leprosy in mexico. ll patients are unable to activate an effective inflammatory response against mycobacterium leprae probably due to the genetics of the host. macrophage migration inhibitory factor (mif) is important to trigger inflammation processes. two polymorphisms have been reported for human mif: str -794 catt5-8 and snp -173 g/c. 7-8 catt repeats at -794 and the c allele at -173 increase the expression of mif. we aim to determin ... | 2016 | 27426952 |
| imported and autochthonous leprosy presenting in madrid (1989-2015): a case series and review of the literature. | leprosy remains infrequent in non-endemic areas. the objective of this study was to describe the cases of leprosy reviewed at a referral unit for imported diseases in europe and to compare these findings with published data on imported leprosy. | 2017 | 27393660 |
| regional anaesthesia management in a patient with leprosy: rare case with rare application. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that is caused by mycobacterium leprae and affects the skin and nerves. patients with leprosy having related peripheral neuropathy and involvement of other organs may have cardiac, respiratory dysautonomia and autonomic dysfunctions. there are very few studies regarding anaesthetic management of patients suffering from leprosy. moreover, very few studies concerning regional anaesthesia in patients with lepromatous leprosy have been reported. in this study, ... | 2016 | 27366553 |
| s100a12 is part of the antimicrobial network against mycobacterium leprae in human macrophages. | triggering antimicrobial mechanisms in macrophages infected with intracellular pathogens, such as mycobacteria, is critical to host defense against the infection. to uncover the unique and shared antimicrobial networks induced by the innate and adaptive immune systems, gene expression profiles generated by rna sequencing (rnaseq) from human monocyte-derived macrophages (mdms) activated with tlr2/1 ligand (tlr2/1l) or ifn-γ were analyzed. weighed gene correlation network analysis identified modul ... | 2016 | 27355424 |
| mechanisms of defense against intracellular pathogens mediated by human macrophages. | the key question our work has sought to address has been, "what are the necessary and sufficient conditions that engender protection from intracellular pathogens in the human host?" the origins of this work derive from a long-standing interest in the mechanisms of protection against two such paradigmatic intracellular pathogens, mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae, that have brilliantly adapted to the human host. it was obvious that these pathogens, which cause chronic diseases a ... | 2016 | 27337485 |
| human nod2 recognizes structurally unique muramyl dipeptides from mycobacterium leprae. | the innate immune system recognizes microbial pathogens via pattern recognition receptors. one such receptor, nod2, via recognition of muramyl dipeptide (mdp), triggers a distinct network of innate immune responses, including the production of interleukin-32 (il-32), which leads to the differentiation of monocytes into dendritic cells (dc). nod2 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of human leprosy, yet it is not clear whether mycobacterium leprae, which has a distinct mdp structure, can acti ... | 2016 | 27297389 |
| mycobacterium leprae-induced insulin-like growth factor i attenuates antimicrobial mechanisms, promoting bacterial survival in macrophages. | mycobacterium leprae (ml), the etiologic agent of leprosy, can subvert macrophage antimicrobial activity by mechanisms that remain only partially understood. in the present study, the participation of hormone insulin-like growth factor i (igf-i) in this phenomenum was investigated. macrophages from the dermal lesions of the disseminated multibacillary lepromatous form (ll) of leprosy expressed higher levels of igf-i than those from the self-limited paucibacillary tuberculoid form (bt). higher le ... | 2016 | 27282338 |
| soil-transmitted helminth infections and leprosy: a cross-sectional study of the association between two major neglected tropical diseases in indonesia. | the clinical spectrum of leprosy is dependent on the host immune response against mycobacterium leprae or the newly discovered mycobacterium lepromatosis antigen. helminth infections have been shown to affect the development of several diseases through immune regulation and thus may play a role in the clinical manifestations of leprosy and leprosy reactions. the purpose of this study is to determine the proportion of helminth infections in leprosy and its association with the type of leprosy and ... | 2016 | 27278453 |
| tuberculosis and leprosy infections in the marshallese population of arkansas, usa. | the cross-immunity between tuberculosis and leprosy is unknown. the aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the occurrence of mycobacterium tuberculosis and m. leprae infection in marshallese adult volunteers in springdale, arkansas, u.s.a., a population that experiences high rates of leprosy and tuberculosis. we used immunodiagnostic testing for tuberculosis and leprosy infection and found significant prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (19.0%), and asymptomatic mycobacterium leprae inf ... | 2016 | 27255065 |
| autochthonous borderline tuberculoid leprosy in a man from florida. | leprosy (hansen's disease) is a chronic contagious granulomatous disease principally affecting the skin and peripheral nervous system, caused by mycobacterium leprae. in this report, we present a case of autochthonous leprosy in a man from florida as the first human case reported from this region. authors believe dermatologists need to be aware of the possibility of autochthonous transmission of leprosy in the eastern-southern united states, and should consider leprosy in any patient with atypic ... | 2016 | 27255063 |
| mutation at codon 442 in the rpob gene of mycobacterium leprae does not confer resistance to rifampicin. | rifampicin is the major drug in the treatment of leprosy. the rifampicin resistance of mycobacterium leprae results from a mutation in the rpob gene, encoding the β subunit of rna polymerase. as m. leprae is a non-cultivable organism observation of its growth using mouse food-pad (mfp) is the only gold standard assay used for confirmation of "in-vivo" drug resistance. | 2016 | 27255062 |
| association of viable mycobacterium leprae with type 1 reaction in leprosy. | the working hypothesis is that, viable mycobacterium leprae (m. leprae) play a crucial role in the precipitation of type 1 reaction (t1r) in leprosy. | 2016 | 27255061 |
| [borderline leprosy as a rare differential diagnosis]. | history and clinical findings | a 42-year-old migrant from brazil presented with persistent sensory disturbances, skin discolorations and local alopecia in the upper limbs. decisive for the presentation in our tropical medicine clinic were new occurrences of severe pain and redness and swelling in the area of the lesions that had already been assessed by a number of medical specialists without a clear diagnosis could be made. investigations and diagnosis | the histological analysis of skin biops ... | 2016 | 27254633 |
| expression profile of rab5, rab7, tryptophan aspartate-containing coat protein, leprae lipoarabinomannan, and phenolic glycolipid-1 on the failure of the phagolysosome process in macrophages of leprosy patients as a viability marker of mycobacterium leprae. | phagolysosome process in macrophage of leprosy patients' is important in the early phase of eliminating mycobacterium leprae invasion. this study was to clarify the involvement of rab5, rab7, and trytophan aspartate-containing coat protein (taco) from host macrophage and leprae lipoarabinomannan (lep-lam) and phenolic glycolipid-1 (pgl-1) from m. leprae cell wall as the reflection of phagolysosome process in relation to 16 subunit ribosomal rna (16s rrna) m. leprae as a marker of viability of m. ... | 2016 | 27242226 |
| mycobacterium leprae specific genomic target in the promoter region of probable 4-alpha-glucanotransferase (ml1545) gene with potential sensitivity for polymerase chain reaction based diagnosis of leprosy. | with the absence of an effective diagnostic tool for leprosy, cases with negative bacteriological index and limited clinical manifestations often pose diagnostic challenges. in this study, we investigated the utility of a novel mycobacterium leprae specific 112-bp dna sequence in the promoter region of probable 4-alpha-glucanotransferase (pseudogene, ml1545) for polymerase chain reaction (pcr) based diagnosis of leprosy in comparison to that of the rlep gene. dna was extracted from slit skin scr ... | 2016 | 27242223 |
| [methods for determining the antimicrobial susceptibility of mycobacteria]. | mycobacteria are a large group of microorganisms, multiple species of which are major causes of morbidity and mortality, such as tuberculosis and leprosy. at present, the emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant strains of mycobacterium tuberculosis complex are one of the most serious health problems worldwide. furthermore, in contrast to m. tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae, non-tuberculous mycobacteria (ntm) are more frequently isolated and, in many cases, treatment is based on drug sus ... | 2016 | 27236235 |
| leprosy in children and adolescents under 15 years old in an urban centre in brazil. | this original study describes the intra-urban distribution of cases of leprosy in residents under 15 years old in salvador, bahia, brazil; the study also identifies the environment in which mycobacterium leprae is being transmitted. the cases were distributed by operational classification, clinical forms, type of contact and the addresses were geo-referenced by neighborhood. between 2007 and 2011, were reported 145 cases of leprosy in target population living in salvador, corresponding to detect ... | 2016 | 27223655 |
| increasing incidence of leprosy and transmission from armadillos in central florida: a case series. | | 2016 | 27222885 |
| pauci- and multibacillary leprosy: two distinct, genetically neglected diseases. | after sustained exposure to mycobacterium leprae, only a subset of exposed individuals develops clinical leprosy. moreover, leprosy patients show a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations that extend from the paucibacillary (pb) to the multibacillary (mb) form of the disease. this "polarization" of leprosy has long been a major focus of investigation for immunologists because of the different immune response in these two forms. but while leprosy per se has been shown to be under tight human gen ... | 2016 | 27219008 |
| patterns of mycobacterium leprae infection in wild nine-banded armadillos (dasypus novemcinctus) in mississippi, usa. | the nine-banded armadillo ( dasypus novemcinctus ) is the only known nonhuman reservoir of mycobacterium leprae , the causative agent of hansen's disease or leprosy. we conducted a 6-yr study on a wild population of armadillos in western mississippi that was exposed to m. leprae to evaluate the importance of demographic and spatial risk factors on individual antibody status. we found that spatially derived covariates were not predictive of antibody status. furthermore, analyses revealed no evide ... | 2016 | 27195687 |
| leprosy among children under 15 years of age: literature review. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, representing a public health issue in some countries. though more prevalent in adults, the detection of new cases in children under 15 years of age reveals an active circulation of bacillus, continued transmission and lack of disease control by the health system, as well as aiding in the monitoring of the endemic. among patients under 15 years of age, the most affected age group is children between 10 and 14 years of age, al ... | 2016 | 27192519 |
| combination chemoprophylaxis and immunoprophylaxis in reducing the incidence of leprosy. | leprosy is a complex infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae that is a leading cause of nontraumatic peripheral neuropathy. current control strategies, with a goal of early diagnosis and treatment in the form of multidrug therapy, have maintained new case reports at ~225,000 per year. diagnostic capabilities are limited and even with revisions to multidrug therapy regimen, treatment can still require up to a year of daily drug intake. although alternate chemotherapies or adjunct immune ... | 2016 | 27175099 |
| leprosy as a model to understand cancer immunosurveillance and t cell anergy. | leprosy is a disease caused by mycobacterium leprae that presents on a spectrum of both clinical manifestations and t cell response. on one end of this spectrum, tuberculoid leprosy is a well-controlled disease, characterized by a cell-mediated immunity and immunosurveillance. on the opposite end of the spectrum, lepromatous leprosy is characterized by m. leprae proliferation and t cell anergy. similar to progressive tumor cells, m. leprae escapes immunosurveillance in more severe forms of lepro ... | 2016 | 27106673 |
| inoculation site leprosy in a tattoo as a paradoxical reaction following tuberculosis treatment. | we present a patient who developed inoculation site leprosy in a tattoo, which was confirmed by mycobacterium leprae dna sequencing of a polymerase chain reaction product from a skin biopsy. his leprosy became manifest as a paradoxical reaction only after 8 weeks of treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis. | 2016 | 27084829 |
| a quantitative approach to analyzing genome reductive evolution using protein-protein interaction networks: a case study of mycobacterium leprae. | the advance in high-throughput sequencing technologies has yielded complete genome sequences of several organisms, including complete bacterial genomes. the growing number of these available sequenced genomes has enabled analyses of their dynamics, as well as the molecular and evolutionary processes which these organisms are under. comparative genomics of different bacterial genomes have highlighted their genome size and gene content in association with lifestyles and adaptation to various envir ... | 2016 | 27066064 |
| clinical pearls: leprosy reactions. | leprosy reactions are acute inflammatory episodes that occur in the setting of mycobacterium leprae infection. precipitants of reactions can be pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic. both type 1 and type 2 reactions typically occur before and during leprosy treatment but may also occur after treatment has been completed. reactions cause morbidity due to nerve damage, and prompt corticosteroid therapy is warranted to minimize nerve damage due to reactions. | 2016 | 27060010 |
| mycobacterium leprae is usually positive to periodic acid-schiff and grocott stains. | | 2016 | 26999344 |
| mycobacterium leprae alters classical activation of human monocytes in vitro. | macrophages play a central role in the pathogenesis of leprosy, caused by mycobacterium leprae. the polarized clinical presentations in leprosy are associated with differential immune activation. in tuberculoid leprosy, macrophages show a classical activation phenotype (m1), while macrophages in lepromatous disease display characteristics of alternative activation (m2). bacille calmette-guérin (bcg) vaccination, which protects against leprosy, can promote sustained changes in monocyte response t ... | 2016 | 26973434 |
| [a strange facial mutilation]. | | 2016 | 26969390 |
| comparison of four dna extraction methods for the detection of mycobacterium leprae from ziehl-neelsen-stained microscopic slides. | the diagnosis of leprosy has been a challenge due to the low sensibility of the conventional methods and the impossibility of culturing the causative organism. in this study, four methods for mycobacterium leprae nucleic-acid extraction from ziehl-neelsen-stained slides (zns slides) were compared: phenol/chloroform, chelex 100 resin, and two commercial kits (wizard genomic dna purification kit and qiaamp dna mini kit). | 2015 | 26964809 |
| mycobacterial disease in patients with chronic granulomatous disease: a retrospective analysis of 71 cases. | chronic granulomatous disease (cgd) is a rare primary immunodeficiency caused by inborn errors of the phagocyte nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase complex. from the first year of life onward, most affected patients display multiple, severe, and recurrent infections caused by bacteria and fungi. mycobacterial infections have also been reported in some patients. | 2016 | 26936803 |
| exploratory urinary metabolomics of type 1 leprosy reactions. | leprosy is an infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae that affects the skin and nerves. although curable with multidrug therapy, leprosy is complicated by acute inflammatory episodes called reactions, which are the major causes of irreversible neuropathy in leprosy that occur before, during, and even after treatment. early diagnosis and prompt treatment of reactions reduces the risk of permanent disability. | 2016 | 26923082 |
| development of type 2, but not type 1, leprosy reactions is associated with a severe reduction of circulating and in situ regulatory t-cells. | leprosy is frequently complicated by the appearance of reactions that are difficult to treat and are the main cause of sequelae. we speculated that disturbances in regulatory t-cells (tregs) could play a role in leprosy reactions. we determined the frequency of circulating tregs in patients with type 1 reaction (t1r) and type 2 reaction (t2r). the in situ frequency of tregs and interleukin (il)-17, il-6, and transforming growth factor beta (tgf)-β-expressing cells was also determined. t2r patien ... | 2016 | 26903606 |
| inflammatory cytokines are involved in focal demyelination in leprosy neuritis. | mycobacterium leprae (ml) infection causes nerve damage that often leads to permanent loss of cutaneous sensitivity and limb deformities, but understanding of the pathogenesis of leprous neuropathy that would lead to more effective treatments is incomplete. we studied reactional leprosy patients with (n = 9) and without (n = 8) acute neuritis. nerve conduction studies over the course of the reactional episode showed the findings of demyelination in all patients with neuritis. evaluation of patie ... | 2016 | 26888306 |
| leveraging advances in tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment to address nontuberculous mycobacterial disease. | the nontuberculous mycobacteria (ntm), defined as any mycobacterial pathogen other than mycobacterium tuberculosis or mycobacterium leprae, are a diverse group of pathogens that collectively cause a substantive but often unappreciated worldwide burden of illness. although ntms may cause illness similar to m. tuberculosis, these pathogens generally do not respond to classic tuberculosis (tb) drug regimens, resulting in misdiagnosis and poor treatment, particularly in resource-poor settings. altho ... | 2016 | 26886068 |
| a missense lrrk2 variant is a risk factor for excessive inflammatory responses in leprosy. | depending on the epidemiological setting, a variable proportion of leprosy patients will suffer from excessive pro-inflammatory responses, termed type-1 reactions (t1r). the lrrk2 gene encodes a multi-functional protein that has been shown to modulate pro-inflammatory responses. variants near the lrrk2 gene have been associated with leprosy in some but not in other studies. we hypothesized that lrrk2 was a t1r susceptibility gene and that inconsistent association results might reflect different ... | 2016 | 26844546 |
| the -308 bp tnf gene polymorphism influences tumor necrosis factor expression in leprosy patients in bahia state, brazil. | leprosy or hansen's disease is a debilitating chronic granulomatous disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, with high incidence and prevalence in brazil. the -308 bp g/a single nucleotide polymorphism (snp rs1800629) in the tumor necrosis factor (tnf) gene promoter is a proposed risk factor for leprosy. in brazil, northern india, egypt and nepal, the common g allele was associated with leprosy. in eastern india, thailand and malawi the minor a allele was the risk factor. allele a was previously ... | 2016 | 26829382 |
| the demographic and clinical characteristics of leprosy in saudi arabia. | leprosy is a chronic disease caused by mycobacterium leprae. although the occurrence of leprosy has declined in saudi arabia, it has not yet been eradicated. to our knowledge, this descriptive retrospective study is the first to assess the clinical presentation of leprosy at the time of diagnosis in saudi arabia. all study subjects were leprosy patients admitted to ibn sina hospital, the only referral hospital for leprosy in saudi arabia, between january 2000 and may 2012. a total of 164 subject ... | 2017 | 26810580 |
| integrative analyses of leprosy susceptibility genes indicate a common autoimmune profile. | leprosy is an ancient chronic infection in the skin and peripheral nerves caused by mycobacterium leprae. the development of leprosy depends on genetic background and the immune status of the host. however, there is no systematic view focusing on the biological pathways, interaction networks and overall expression pattern of leprosy-related immune and genetic factors. | 2016 | 26805555 |
| essentiality assessment of cysteinyl and lysyl-trna synthetases of mycobacterium smegmatis. | discovery of mupirocin, an antibiotic that targets isoleucyl-trna synthetase, established aminoacyl-trna synthetase as an attractive target for the discovery of novel antibacterial agents. despite a high degree of similarity between the bacterial and human aminoacyl-trna synthetases, the selectivity observed with mupirocin triggered the possibility of targeting other aminoacyl-trna synthetases as potential drug targets. these enzymes catalyse the condensation of a specific amino acid to its cogn ... | 2016 | 26794499 |
| gene association with leprosy: a review of published data. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by an obligate intracellular bacterium known as mycobacterium leprae. exposure to the bacillus is necessary, but this alone does not mean an individual will develop clinical symptoms of the disease. in recent years, several genes have been associated with leprosy and the innate immune response pathways converge on the main hypothesis that genes are involved in the susceptibility for the disease in two distinct steps: for leprosy per se and in the de ... | 2015 | 26793196 |
| leprous neuromyositis: a rare clinical entity and review of the literature. | mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy (hansen's disease), is a slow growing intracellular acid-fast bacillus that affects the skin, peripheral nerves and respiratory tract. in patients with suppressed cell-mediated immunity, the infiltration of the bacilli can produce disseminated illness such as leprous neuromyositis. we reported a case of 56-year-old gentleman presenting with pyrexia of unknown origin, asymmetric sensory motor axonal polyneuropathy and was on chronic exogenous s ... | 2016 | 26776128 |
| advances in leprosy immunology and the field application: a gap to bridge. | advances concerning the hosts' immune response to mycobacterium leprae infection have focused on elucidating the immune pathomechanisms involved, with the hope that predictive diagnostic and prognostic parameters (biomarkers) for field use would emerge; however, improvements in our understanding of the immunologic responses to this complex disease have, to date, somewhat failed to provide the effective and robust methods for improving its predictive diagnosis in the field situation, particularly ... | 2016 | 26773628 |
| history of chemotherapy of leprosy. | chemotherapy of leprosy over the past 70 years has passed through several phases, from sulfones, to clofazimine, and to highly bactericidal drugs like rifampicin. the use particularly of the more potent drugs in effective combinations and the development of standard multidrug therapy regimens have made a huge difference in the successful treatment of leprosy as well as in reducing tremendously the prevalence of leprosy globally. a major contributing factor to development of better drugs and drug ... | 2016 | 26773621 |
| epidemiologic trends of leprosy for the 21st century. | major gaps still exist in the knowledge about leprosy, particularly with regard to how it spreads. leprosy epidemiology remains complicated due to the specific characteristics of mycobacterium leprae. to describe epidemiologic trends for the 21st century, the first part of this paper gives an overview of the epidemiology of leprosy, followed by past trends and the present situation of new-case detection as a proxy of the incidence. the third part, regarding predicted epidemiologic trends for the ... | 2016 | 26773620 |
| expression of nucleotide-oligomerization domain (nod) and related genes in mouse tissues infected with mycobacterium leprae. | the nucleotide-oligomerization domain (nod) is an important molecule involved in host defense against bacterial infection. to study the role of nods in the host response to mycobacterium leprae, we measured the mrna levels of nods and related genes in infected mouse tissues. the mrna expression of nod1, nod2, caspase-1 and asc was increased in mouse footpads. whereas nod2 expression in macrophages was increased at 2 and 24 h post-infection with m. leprae, there was no expression of nod1 at these ... | 2015 | 26770186 |
| reciprocity between regulatory t cells and th17 cells: relevance to polarized immunity in leprosy. | t cell defect is a common feature in lepromatous or borderline lepromatous leprosy (ll/bl) patients in contrast to tuberculoid or borderline tuberculoid type (tt/bt) patients. tuberculoid leprosy is characterized by strong th1-type cell response with localized lesions whereas lepromatous leprosy is hallmarked by its selective mycobacterium leprae specific t cell anergy leading to disseminated and progressive disease. foxp3+ regulatory t cells (treg) which are essential for maintaining peripheral ... | 2016 | 26751584 |
| mycobacterium leprae-infected macrophages preferentially primed regulatory t cell responses and was associated with lepromatous leprosy. | the persistence of mycobacterium leprae (m. leprae) infection is largely dependent on the types of host immune responses being induced. macrophage, a crucial modulator of innate and adaptive immune responses, could be directly infected by m. leprae. we therefore postulated that m. leprae-infected macrophages might have altered immune functions. | 2016 | 26751388 |
| complement activation in leprosy: a retrospective study shows elevated circulating terminal complement complex in reactional leprosy. | mycobacterium leprae infection gives rise to the immunologically and histopathologically classified spectrum of leprosy. at present, several tools for the stratification of patients are based on acquired immunity markers. however, the role of innate immunity, particularly the complement system, is largely unexplored. the present retrospective study was undertaken to explore whether the systemic levels of complement activation components and regulators can stratify leprosy patients, particularly ... | 2016 | 26749503 |
| epidemiological aspects of leprosy in juazeiro-ba, from 2002 to 2012. | leprosy is an infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, able to infect large numbers of people. this work is relevant to juazeiro-ba, a hyper-endemic area for leprosy, since unravel the behavior of the disease in the area, may suggest the decision making for sectors of surveillance, establishing strategies, organizing and evaluating programs and services. | 2017 | 26734859 |
| leprosy in denmark 1980-2010: a review of 15 cases. | leprosy, caused by mycobacterium leprae, is a chronic and progressive granulomatous disease affecting mainly the skin and the peripheral nervous system. if left unrecognized, the infection can lead to permanent nerve damage and disability. the clinical presentation depends on the immune response of the patient and can result in a wide spectrum of symptoms. leprosy is a rare encounter in scandinavia but remains endemic in some parts of the world, with some areas reporting an increasing incidence. ... | 2016 | 26732436 |
| sensory cutaneous nerve fine-needle aspiration in hansen's disease: a retrospective analysis of our experience. | leprosy affects peripheral nerves. as mycobacterium leprae has unique tropism for schwann cells, thickened sensory cutaneous nerves provide an easy target for the detection of lepra bacilli and other changes associated with the disease. | 2017 | 26729977 |
| viability of mycobacterium leprae in the environment and its role in leprosy dissemination. | leprosy, a chronic disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, is a public health concern in certain countries, including india. although the prevalence of the disease has fallen drastically over time, new cases continue to occur at nearly the same rate in many regions. several endemic pockets have been observed in india and elsewhere. the precise dynamics of leprosy transmission are still not clearly understood. both live bacilli as well as m. leprae dna have been detected in the soil and water of ... | 2016 | 26728806 |
| comparative evaluation of pcr amplification of rlep, 16s rrna, rpot and sod a gene targets for detection of m. leprae dna from clinical and environmental samples. | pcr assay is a highly sensitive, specific and reliable diagnostic tool for the identification of pathogens in many infectious diseases. genome sequencing mycobacterium leprae revealed several gene targets that could be used for the detection of dna from clinical and environmental samples. the pcr sensitivity of particular gene targets for specific clinical and environmental isolates has not yet been established. the present study was conducted to compare the sensitivity of rlep, rpot, sod a and ... | 2015 | 26655199 |
| langerhans cells (cd1a and cd207), dermal dendrocytes (fxiiia) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (cd123) in skin lesions of leprosy patients. | the clinical course of infection with mycobacterium leprae varies widely and depends on the pattern of the host immune response. dendritic cells play an important role in the activation of the innate and adaptive immune system and seem to be essential for the development of the disease. to analyze the presence of epidermal dendritic cells (cd1a and cd207), plasmacytoid dendritic cells (cd123) and dermal dendrocytes (factor xiiia) in lesion fragments of leprosy patients, skin samples from 30 pati ... | 2016 | 26639680 |
| genome-wide screening of mrna expression in leprosy patients. | leprosy, an infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, affects millions of people worldwide. however, little is known regarding its molecular pathophysiological mechanisms. in this study, a comprehensive assessment of human mrna was performed on leprosy skin lesions by using dna chip microarrays, which included the entire spectrum of the disease along with its reactional states. sixty-six samples from leprotic lesions (10tt, 10bt, 10bb, 10bl, 4ll, 14r1, and 10r2) and nine skin biopsies f ... | 2015 | 26635870 |
| maldi imaging reveals lipid changes in the skin of leprosy patients before and after multidrug therapy (mdt). | leprosy still represents a health problem in several countries. affecting skin and peripheral nerves, it may lead to permanent disabilities. disturbances on skin lipid metabolism in leprosy were already observed; however, the localization and distribution of lipids could not be accessed. the role of lipids on infectious disease has been fully addressed only recently, as they directly influence immune response. matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization imaging mass spectrometry provides a power ... | 2015 | 26634971 |
| correlation between nerve growth factor and tissue expression of il-17 in leprosy. | leprosy is a serious public health problem in peripheral and developing countries. leprosy is a chronic infectious-contagious disease caused by the intracellular, bacillus mycobacterium leprae, which causes tissue damage and demyelination of peripheral nerves. recent studies have demonstrated the participation of new subtype's cytokines profile in the inflammatory response of leprosy. since nerve functions are affected by inflammatory response during the course of leprosy, changes in the product ... | 2016 | 26616164 |
| genetic variation in toll-interacting protein is associated with leprosy susceptibility and cutaneous expression of interleukin 1 receptor antagonist. | leprosy is a chronic disease characterized by skin and peripheral nerve pathology and immune responses that fail to control mycobacterium leprae. toll-interacting protein (tollip) regulates toll-like receptor (tlr) and interleukin 1 receptor (il-1r) signaling against mycobacteria. we analyzed messenger rna (mrna) expression of candidate immune genes in skin biopsy specimens from 85 individuals with leprosy. tollip mrna was highly and specifically correlated with il-1r antagonist (il-1ra). in a c ... | 2016 | 26610735 |
| presence of mycobacterium leprae dna and pgl-1 antigen in household contacts of leprosy patients from a hyperendemic area in brazil. | leprosy is a highly infectious disease endemic to underdeveloped countries. in maranhão state, northeastern brazil, the hyperendemic rate of 56.11 cases/100,000 inhabitants increased the necessity of better understanding the epidemiological profile of this population, particularly regarding efficient methods for evaluating individuals residing with diagnosed patients to understand disease transmission and the risk of infection. in this study, we examined the percentage of contacts with positive ... | 2015 | 26600506 |
| zoonotic leprosy in the southeastern united states. | nine-banded armadillos (dasypus novemcinctus) are naturally infected with mycobacterium leprae and have been implicated in zoonotic transmission of leprosy. early studies found this disease mainly in texas and louisiana, but armadillos in the southeastern united states appeared to be free of infection. we screened 645 armadillos from 8 locations in the southeastern united states not known to harbor enzootic leprosy for m. leprae dna and antibodies. we found m. leprae-infected armadillos at each ... | 2015 | 26583204 |
| validation of qpcr methods for the detection of mycobacterium in new world animal reservoirs. | zoonotic pathogens that cause leprosy (mycobacterium leprae) and tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, mtbc) continue to impact modern human populations. therefore, methods able to survey mycobacterial infection in potential animal hosts are necessary for proper evaluation of human exposure threats. here we tested for mycobacterial-specific single- and multi-copy loci using qpcr. in a trial study in which armadillos were artificially infected with m. leprae, these techniques were spe ... | 2015 | 26571269 |
| rapid identification of mycobacterium leprae by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the heat shock protein 65 gene from skin specimens. | | 2015 | 26521798 |
| differential expression of solute carrier family 11a member 1 and inducible nitric oxide synthase 2 in skin biopsies from leprosy patients. | leprosy is a chronic granulomatous infection caused by mycobacterium leprae, an intracellular parasite that resides within macrophages and cannot be eliminated effectively. solute carrier family 11a member 1 (slc11a1) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (inos), both expressed in macrophages, play major roles in host defense against several intracellular pathogens. however, the roles of these molecules in natural infection with m. leprae remain unknown. | 2015 | 26515838 |
| longitudinal immune profiles in type 1 leprosy reactions in bangladesh, brazil, ethiopia and nepal. | acute inflammatory reactions are a frequently occurring, tissue destructing phenomenon in infectious- as well as autoimmune diseases, providing clinical challenges for early diagnosis. in leprosy, an infectious disease initiated by mycobacterium leprae (m. leprae), these reactions represent the major cause of permanent neuropathy. however, laboratory tests for early diagnosis of reactional episodes which would significantly contribute to prevention of tissue damage are not yet available. althoug ... | 2015 | 26510990 |
| current knowledge on mycobacterium leprae transmission: a systematic literature review. | summary | 2015 | 26502685 |
| leprosy mimicking psoriasis. | | 2015 | 26500993 |
| could mycobacterium leprae infection be an occupational disease? a survey in healthcare workers from an endemic area in the amazonian region. | a serologic survey was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of mycobacterium leprae infection among healthcare workers and associated factors. of 280 workers, 26 (9.3%) were positive using immunoglobulin m serology for pgl-i m. leprae antigen. exposure to leprosy patients in the workplace was significantly associated with seropositivity (p=.044). | 2015 | 26456726 |
| genotyping of mycobacterium leprae strains from a region of high endemic leprosy prevalence in india. | leprosy is still a major health problem in india which has the highest number of cases. multiple locus variable number of tandem repeat analysis (mlva) and single nucleotide polymorphism (snp) have been proposed as tools of strain typing for tracking the transmission of leprosy. however, empirical data for a defined population from scale and duration were lacking for studying the transmission chain of leprosy. seventy slit skin scrapings were collected from purulia (west bengal), miraj (maharash ... | 2015 | 26444583 |
| new insights into the geographic distribution of mycobacterium leprae snp genotypes determined for isolates from leprosy cases diagnosed in metropolitan france and french territories. | between 20 and 30 bacteriologically confirmed cases of leprosy are diagnosed each year at the french national reference center for mycobacteria. patients are mainly immigrants from various endemic countries or living in french overseas territories. we aimed at expanding data regarding the geographical distribution of the snp genotypes of the m. leprae isolates from these patients. | 2015 | 26441080 |
| indigenous cases of leprosy (hansen's disease) in southern mississippi. | hansen's disease or leprosy is a chronic infection of the skin and peripheral nerves caused by mycobacterium leprae. in the u.s., leprosy is mainly reported in immigrants, but indigenous leprosy cases have been also reported in this country, especially in semitropical southern states (i.e., texas, louisiana). the objective of this series of cases is to describe indigenous leprosy cases reported in southern mississippi (ms) during the period 2012-2014. information was collected from medical recor ... | 2015 | 26434167 |
| performance of pcr-reverse blot hybridization assay for detection of rifampicin-resistant mycobacterium leprae. | drug resistance in mycobacterium leprae is a significant problem in countries where leprosy is endemic. a sensitive, specific, and high-throughput reverse blot hybridization assay (reba) for the detection of genotypic resistance to rifampicin (rif) was designed and evaluated. it has been shown that resistance to rif in m. leprae involves mutations in the rpob gene encoding the -subunit of the rna polymerase. the pcr-reba simultaneously detects both 6 wild-type regions and 5 different mutations ( ... | 2015 | 26428919 |
| update on the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of leprosy. | leprosy is an infectious disease that has now been reported for more than 2000 years. the leprosy elimination goal set by the world health organization (who), i.e. a global prevalence rate <1 patient per 10,000 population, was achieved in the year 2000, but more than 200,000 new case patients are still reported each year, particularly in india, brazil, and indonesia. leprosy is a specific infection: (i) it is a chronic infection primarily affecting the skin and peripheral nerves, (ii) mycobacter ... | 2015 | 26428602 |
| a study of liver function tests in leprosy. | leprosy is a chronic progressive granulomatous disease caused by mycobacterium leprae. hepatic involvement is seen in early stages of the disease. administration of the hepatotoxic drugs like rifampicin and dapsone may further deteriorate the liver function. the present study was undertaken to evaluate hepatic status by studying the various liver function tests in leprosy patients and compared to healthy controls. thirty untreated leprosy patients (18 multibacillary, 12 paucibacillary) with dura ... | 2015 | 26411248 |
| b cells expressing il-10 mrna modulate memory t cells after dna-hsp65 immunization. | in dna vaccines, the gene of interest is cloned into a bacterial plasmid that is engineered to induce protein production for long periods in eukaryotic cells. previous research has shown that the intramuscular immunization of balb/c mice with a naked plasmid dna fragment encoding the mycobacterium leprae 65-kda heat-shock protein (pcdna3-hsp65) induces protection against m. tuberculosis challenge. a key stage in the protective immune response after immunization is the generation of memory t cell ... | 2015 | 26397973 |
| the essential role of cholesterol metabolism in the intracellular survival of mycobacterium leprae is not coupled to central carbon metabolism and energy production. | mycobacterium leprae induces the formation of lipid droplets, which are recruited to pathogen-containing phagosomes in infected macrophages and schwann cells. cholesterol is among the lipids with increased abundance in m. leprae-infected cells, and intracellular survival relies on cholesterol accumulation. the present study investigated the capacity of m. leprae to acquire and metabolize cholesterol. in silico analyses showed that oxidation of cholesterol to cholest-4-en-3-one (cholestenone), th ... | 2015 | 26391209 |
| influence of genetic ancestry on indel markers of nfkβ1, casp8, par1, il4 and cyp19a1 genes in leprosy patients. | leprosy is an insidious infectious disease caused by the obligate intracellular bacteria mycobacterium leprae, and host genetic factors can modulate the immune response and generate distinct categories of leprosy susceptibility that are also influenced by genetic ancestry. | 2015 | 26367014 |
| downregulation of phex in multibacillary leprosy patients: observational cross-sectional study. | peripheral nerve injury and bone lesions, well known leprosy complications, lead to deformities and incapacities. the phosphate-regulating gene with homologies to endopeptidase on the x chromosome (phex) encodes a homonymous protein (phex) implicated in bone metabolism. phex/phex alterations may result in bone and cartilage lesions. phex expression is downregulated by intracellular mycobacterium leprae (m. leprae) in cultures of human schwann cells and osteoblasts. m. leprae in vivo effect on ph ... | 2015 | 26362198 |
| human genetic ancestral composition correlates with the origin of mycobacterium leprae strains in a leprosy endemic population. | recent reports have suggested that leprosy originated in africa, extended to asia and europe, and arrived in the americas during european colonization and the african slave trade. due to colonization, the contemporary colombian population is an admixture of native-american, european and african ancestries. because microorganisms are known to accompany humans during migrations, patterns of human migration can be traced by examining genomic changes in associated microbes. the current study analyze ... | 2015 | 26360617 |
| common variants of opa1 conferring genetic susceptibility to leprosy in han chinese from southwest china. | leprosy is an ancient chronic infection caused by mycobacterium leprae. onset of leprosy was highly affected by host nutritional condition and energy production, (partially) due to genomic loss and parasitic life style of m. leprae. the optic atrophy 1 (opa1) gene plays an essential role in mitochondria, which function in cellular energy supply and innate immunity. | 2015 | 26360011 |
| inflammatory mediators of leprosy reactional episodes and dental infections: a systematic review. | reactional episodes in leprosy are a result of complex interactions between the immune system, mycobacterium leprae, and predisposing factors, including dental infections. to determine the main inflammatory mediators in the immunopathological process of dental infections and leprosy reactions, we conducted a systematic review of primary literature published between 1996 and 2013. a three-stage literature search was performed (stage i, "leprosy reactions" and "inflammatory mediators"; stage ii, " ... | 2015 | 26339136 |
| new players in the same old game: disturbance of group 2 innate lymphoid cells in hiv-1 and mycobacterium leprae co-infected patients. | leprosy control is achieved through a fine-tuning of th1 and th2 immune response pattern balance. given the increasing epidemiological overlay of hiv and m. leprae infections, immune response in co-infected patients consists in an important contemporary issue. here we describe for the first time the innate lymphoid cells compartment in peripheral blood of leprosy and hiv/m. leprae co-infected patients, and show that co-infection increases group 2 innate lymphoid whilst decreasing group 1 innate ... | 2015 | 26335023 |
| laryngeal involvement causing dysphonia in a 29 year old nursing mother with lepromatous leprosy. | leprosy is a granulomatous disease that mainly affects the skin and peripheral nerves. it is caused by infection with mycobacterium leprae or mycobacterium lepromatosus. in most instances, diagnosis of leprosy can easily be made based on the clinical signs and symptoms. however, when patients present with atypical features, clinical diagnosis can be a challenge. we report a case of a nursing mother with lepromatous leprosy who presented with dysphonia and skin lesions initially thought to be a d ... | 2015 | 26327983 |
| emergence of primary drug resistance to rifampicin in mycobacterium leprae strains from leprosy patients in india. | | 2015 | 26314915 |
| diffuse lepromatous leprosy due to mycobacterium lepromatosis in quintana roo, mexico. | a 43-year-old woman of mayan origin from quintana roo, mexico, was diagnosed with diffuse lepromatous leprosy. the etiologic bacillus was determined to be mycobacterium lepromatosis instead of mycobacterium leprae. this case likely represents the first report of this leprosy form and its agent in the southeastern tip of mexico. | 2015 | 26311856 |
| unique ttc repeat base pair loss mutation in cases of pure neural leprosy: a survival strategy of mycobacterium leprae? | genomic reduction helps obligate intracellular microbes to survive difficult host niches. adaptation of mycobacterium leprae in cases of pure neural leprosy (pnl) in the intracellular niche of peripheral nerves can be associated with some gene loss. recently, a stable but variable number of tandem repefzats (ttc) have been reported in strains of m. leprae. folp and rpob genes are the two common mutation sites which deal with the susceptibility of the bacteria to drugs. | 2017 | 26288401 |
| alterations to antigen-specific immune responses before and after multidrug therapy of leprosy. | this study evaluated the impact of leprosy multidrug therapy (mdt) on cell-mediated immunity (cmi) and antibody responses at diagnosis in untreated paucibacillary (pb) (n=15) and multibacillary (mb) patients (n=15) using a panel of mycobacterium leprae recombinant antigens (rmls) (cmi: 46f, ml0276, ml2055, leprosy idri diagnostic 1 [lid-1], and ml2629, as negative control; serology: lid-1, 46f, 92f, and 33f, as negative control, and phenolic glycolipid i [pgl-i]) and at 2 time points after mdt ( ... | 2015 | 26233487 |
| human-armadillo interaction in ceará, brazil: potential for transmission of mycobacterium leprae. | several factors suggest that armadillos present an important risk for human leprosy infection. this study uses semi-structured interviews to better illustrate how human interaction with armadillos may increase the risk of leprosy transmission. the participants were all residents of the state of ceará, in northeastern brazil, all acknowledged contact with armadillos either through hunting, through cooking, or through consumption of its meat. this study raises important issues about contact betwee ... | 2015 | 26232656 |