@article{93146,
  author = {Manta F and Barbieri RR and Moreira SJ M and Santos P and Nery JA and Duppre NC and Sales A and Pacheco A and Hacker M and Machado AM and Sarno E and Moraes M},
  title = {Quantitative PCR for leprosy diagnosis and monitoring in household contacts: A follow-up study, 2011-2018.},
  abstract = {<p>Household contacts (HHC) of leprosy patients exhibit high-risk of developing leprosy and contact tracing is helpful for early diagnosis. From 2011 to 2018,2,437 HHC were examined in a clinic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and 16S qPCR was used for diagnosis and monitoring of contacts. Fifty-four HHCs were clinically diagnosed with leprosy at intake. Another 25 exhibited leprosy-like skin lesions at intake, 8 of which were confirmed as having leprosy (50% of which were qPCR positive) and 17 of which were diagnosed with other skin diseases (6% qPCR positive). In skin biopsies, qPCR presented a sensitivity of 0.50 and specificity of 0.94. Furthermore, 955 healthy HHCs were followed-up for at least 3 years and skin scrapings were collected from earlobes for qPCR detection. Positive qPCR indicated a non-significant relative risk of 2.52 of developing the disease. During follow-up, those who progressed towards leprosy exhibited 20% qPCR positivity, compared to 9% of those who remained healthy. Disease-free survival rates indicated that age had a significant impact on disease progression, where patients over 60 had a greater chance of developing leprosy [HR = 32.4 (3.6-290.3)]. Contact tracing combined with qPCR may assist in early diagnosis and age is a risk factor for leprosy progression.</p>},
  year = {2019},
  journal = {Scientific reports},
  volume = {9},
  pages = {16675},
  month = {11/2019},
  issn = {2045-2322},
  url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-52640-5},
  doi = {10.1038/s41598-019-52640-5},
  language = {eng},
}