01789nas a2200349   4500000000100000008004100001260000900042653001000051653001200061653002100073653003000094653003200124653001100156653002300167653001200190653002900202653000900231653001600240653002500256653001700281100001400298700001300312700001400325700001500339700001500354700001500369245008600384300001000470490000700480520093800487022001401425       1999                            d  c199910aAdult10aAnimals10aBiological Assay10aDrug Therapy, Combination10aEvaluation Studies as Topic10aHumans10aLeprostatic Agents10aleprosy10aLuminescent Measurements10aMice10aMiddle Aged10aMycobacterium leprae10aTime Factors1 aGupta U D1 aKatoch K1 aSingh H B1 aNatrajan M1 aSharma V D1 aKatoch V M00aDetection of viable organisms in leprosy patients treated with multidrug therapy.  a89-920 v113 a<p>Cutaneous biopsies were collected from multibacillary leprosy patients who attended the out-patient department of Jalma Institute for treatment at different time intervals, i.e. 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months and 42 months after starting multidrug therapy (MDT) when they were still skin smear positive. Biopsies were processed for inoculation into mouse foot pad (MFP) and estimation of bacillary ATP levels by bioluminescent assay (ATP assay) by earlier established procedures. Viable bacilli were detectable after 1 year (25% cases by MFP and 31% cases by ATP assay), 2 years (8% cases by MFP and 12% cases by ATP assay) and 3 years (4% cases by both MFP and ATP assays). Overall, the percentage of the persisters was 10% by MFP and 13% by ATP assay. It would be important to carry out surveillance studies in larger number of BL/LL cases to know the trends and also the resultant relapses.</p>  a0001-5938