Objective:\ Incidence and Clinical Patterns of Leprosy in Interior Sindh: A Four-Year Retrospective Analysis.
Study design:\ A case-control retrospective study.
Place and duration of tudy:\ This study examines newly diagnosed leprosy cases in interior Sindh and was conducted at the Pathology Department CMC (SMBBMU), Larkana from August 2023 to July 2024.
Methods:\ The study comprised newly diagnosed leprosy patients from 17 designated locations. Cases were people who were diagnosed with leprosy based on clinical signs and laboratory results. All cases{\textquoteright} demographic information, such as age, gender, regional distribution, and clinical trends, were obtained. All data was analysed using the SPSS 26 version software.
Results:\ A total of 239 new leprosy cases were registered across all leprosy centers in interior Sindh between 2019 and 2022. Male patients accounted for 154 cases (64.43\%), outnumbering female patients, who comprised 85 cases (35.56\%). The mean age of the patients was 42.44 {\textpm} 10.22 years, ranging from 3 to 59 years. Notably, the 15{\textendash}30- year-old age group was the most affected. During the four-year study period, the most common forms of leprosy observed were borderline tuberculoid (BT) in 92 cases (38.49\%), tuberculoid tuberculoid (TT) in 72 cases (30.12\%), borderline lepromatous (BL) in 48 cases (20.08\%), borderline borderline (BB) in 16 cases (6.69\%), and lepromatous lepromatous (LL) in 11 cases (4.6\%). Additionally, multibacillary (MB) cases were more prevalent, with 172 cases (71.96\%), while paucibacillary (PB) cases accounted for 67 cases (28.03\%).
Conclusion:\ To eliminate the stigma associated with the illness by educating the public about the fact that it is a bacterial disease that is readily curable.
}, year = {2025}, journal = {Med Forum}, volume = {36}, pages = {6}, url = {https://medicalforummonthly.com/index.php/mfm/article/download/5200/4675}, doi = {10.60110/medforum.360109}, language = {ENG}, }