@article{9457,
  keywords = {Age Factors, Antibodies, Bacterial, Antigens, Bacterial, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Female, Glycolipids, Humans, Incidence, Lepromin, leprosy, Longitudinal studies, Male, Mycobacterium leprae, Predictive Value of Tests, Prevalence, Sex Factors},
  author = {Groenen G and Pattyn S R and Ghys P and Tshilumba K and Kuykens L and Colston M J},
  title = {A longitudinal study of the incidence of leprosy in a hyperendemic area in Zaire, with special reference to PGL-antibody results. The Yalisombo Study Group.},
  abstract = {<p>Between 1984 and 1988, yearly surveys for leprosy were done among the 1500 people living in a previous leprosy segregation village in Zaire. In 1984 lepromin tests and phenolic glycolipid (PGL) antibody tests were done in a significant part of the population. The prevalence of the disease at that time was 16.1%, the proportion of multibacillary cases was 11.3% overall and 22% among active cases. Prior to 1984, 23% of paucibacillary cases and 56% of multibacillary cases had presented themselves spontaneously to the Leprosy Service. The exposure to the infection is uniform, but there is a suggestion of family clustering of cases. In spite of a rapidly bactericidal treatment of all known cases in 1984 and thereafter, the annual incidence of 0.34% did not decrease during the 4 years of the study. The PGL antibody test did not contribute to the diagnosis, classification or prognosis of the disease.</p>
},
  year = {1990},
  journal = {International journal of leprosy and other mycobacterial diseases : official organ of the International Leprosy Association},
  volume = {58},
  pages = {641-50},
  month = {1990 Dec},
  issn = {0148-916X},
  url = {http://ila.ilsl.br/pdfs/v58n4a01.pdf},
  language = {eng},
}