02020nas a2200337   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001900055653001600074653002000090653002400110653001100134653001100145653002100156653001400177653001200191653002400203653003100227653001700258653001700275100001400292700001200306700001300318245008200331856008000413300001100493490000700504050001600511520114100527022001401668       1997                            d  c1997 Dec10aCause of Death10aComorbidity10aCross Reactions10aDisease Progression10aEurope10aHumans10aImmunity, Active10aIncidence10aleprosy10aModels, Statistical10aReproducibility of Results10aTime Factors10aTuberculosis1 aLietman T1 aPorco T1 aBlower S00aLeprosy and tuberculosis: the epidemiological consequences of cross-immunity.  uhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1381230/pdf/amjph00511-0021.pdf  a1923-70 v87  aLIETMAN19973 a<p><b>OBJECTIVES: </b>This study tested the hypothesis, first proposed by Chaussinand, that individual-level immunity acquired from exposure to tuberculosis may have contributed to the disappearance of leprosy from western Europe.</p><p><b>METHODS: </b>The epidemiological consequences of cross-immunity were assessed by the formulation of a mathematical model of the transmission dynamics of tuberculosis and leprosy.</p><p><b>RESULTS: </b>The conditions under which Mycobacterium tuberculosis could have eradicated Mycobacterium leprae were derived in terms of the basic reproductive rates of the two infections and the degree of cross-immunity.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS: </b>If the degree of cross-immunity between two diseases within an individual is known, then the epidemiological consequences of this cross-immunity can be assessed with transmission modeling. The results of this analysis, in combination with previous estimates of the basic reproductive rate of tuberculosis and degree of cross-immunity, imply that tuberculosis could have contributed to the decline of leprosy if the basic reproductive rate of leprosy was low.</p>  a0090-0036