01484nas a2200253 4500000000100000008004100001260000900042653001100051653002000062653001100082653001200093653001900105653001400124653003200138653000900170100001700179700001300196245009800209856008900307300001100396490000700407520080200414022001401216 1989 d c198910aAfrica10aHot Temperature10aHumans10aleprosy10aPilot Projects10aSensation10aSensitivity and Specificity10aSkin1 aSrinivasan H1 aStumpe B00aLeprosy diagnosis: a device for testing the thermal sensibility of skin lesions in the field. uhttp://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/47211/1/bulletin_1989_67%286%29_635-641.pdf a635-410 v673 a

A handy device for testing the thermal sensibility of skin lesions has been developed and field tested in various centres in Africa and India. The instrument performed satisfactorily and its use made testing for thermal sensibility in the field practicable and straightforward. Analysis of the results of testing 260 persons, most of whom exhibited a few lesions that were characteristic of early leprosy, showed that the rate of diagnosis of sensory impairment of such skin lesions, and hence the diagnosis of leprosy, would be about 15-25% more if thermal sensibility testing using this device were added to the other tests of sensibility routinely carried out in the field. Regular use of the device in the field would help to bring more leprosy patients under treatment than at present.

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