02306nas a2200481   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001000055653002600065653002400091653001000115653001200125653003300137653003100170653002700201653001600228653001100244653002300255653001200278653002500290653002500315653002600340653001300366653002800379653001500407653001300422100001000435700001200445700001200457700001500469700001600484700001800500700001300518700001400531700001200545700001200557245008100569856004100650300000900691490000700700520110300707022001401810       2004                            d  c2004 Mar10aAdult10aAntibodies, Bacterial10aAntigens, Bacterial10aChild10aDapsone10aDNA-Directed RNA Polymerases10aDrug Resistance, Bacterial10aFamily Characteristics10aGlycolipids10aHumans10aLeprostatic Agents10aleprosy10aLeprosy, lepromatous10aMycobacterium leprae10aOccupational Exposure10aPakistan10aPopulation Surveillance10aPrevalence10aRifampin1 aKai M1 aMaeda Y1 aMaeda S1 aFukutomi Y1 aKobayashi K1 aKashiwabara Y1 aMakino M1 aAbbasi MA1 aKhan MZ1 aShah PA00aActive surveillance of leprosy contacts in country with low prevalence rate.  uhttp://ila.ilsl.br/pdfs/v72n1a08.pdf  a50-30 v723 a<p>For advanced control of leprosy in Pakistan where the World Health Organization leprosy elimination goal was achieved in 1996, we conducted surveillance of Mycobacterium leprae-seropositive patients and their contacts and drug resistant strains of M. leprae. We measured anti-PGL-I antibody level in sera from leprosy patients and their contacts for early detection of M. leprae infection. Out of 34 leprosy patients undergoing treatment, 4 lepromatous leprosy patients were antibody positive, and 6.8 to 23.7 percent of occupational or household contacts were seropositive. Furthermore, three cases (1.2%) had a high antibody titer. For surveillance of drug resistant strains of M. leprae, dapsone and rifampin were targeted. Four out of 18 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive samples had mutation in folP gene, and among 10 PCR positive samples, one had a mutation in the rpoB gene. These results indicate that serological analysis of patient contacts might be useful to find out high risk individuals, and there are M. leprae strains resistant to chemotherapeutic agents in Pakistan.</p>  a0148-916X