02180nas a2200385   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001500055653001600070653001000086653002100096653001100117653001100128653001400139653001000153653001100163653002000174653001300194653001200207653000900219653002500228653002700253100001200280700001600292700001200308700001800320700001500338700001300353245010200366300001100468490000700479050001400486520128000500022001401780       1994                            d  c1994 Dec10aAdolescent10aAge Factors10aChild10aChild, Preschool10aFemale10aHumans10aIncidence10aIndia10aInfant10aInfant, Newborn10aLepromin10aleprosy10aMale10aMycobacterium leprae10aOligonucleotide Probes1 aDayal R1 aAgarwal P K1 aKalra K1 aBharadwaj V P1 aKatoch V M1 aKatoch K00aDiagnostic value of gene probes and its correlation with clinical profile of leprosy in children.  a1521-70 v31  aDAYAL19943 a<p>Clinico-bacteriological profile of 73 leprosy patients below 16 years of age was studied. Majority of the patients were males and fell in 11-16 years age group (p < 0.05). Skin lesions were present in all cases on both exposed as well as unexposed areas and their number increased with advancing age. Cutaneous sensations were affected in most of the patients while nerve thickening was observed in 41. As age increased, the disease moved from the tuberculoid end of spectrum towards the lepromatous end (p < 0.05) and the positivity of the skin smears increased (p < 0.05). Majority of the paucibacillary cases were lepromin positive while most multibacillary cases were lepromin negative (p < 0.01). Two M. leprae specific gene probes were applied in 42 cases to assess their diagnostic value. Eighty one per cent cases were picked up by the probes indicating presence of active bacilli. These included all lepromin positive cases, all smear positive cases, and most of smear negative cases (p < 0.05). Seven children with inconclusive histology were also positive. Drug treatment and inadequate size of biopsy sample could explain the negative probe results in 19% cases. This study highlights the immense potential of gene probes in diagnosing leprosy in children.</p>  a0019-6061