01487nas a2200277   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001100055653001200066653001900078653002500097653000900122100001200131700001600143700001400159700002100173700001400194700001200208245012600220856005900346300001000405490000700415050003200422520074100454022001401195       1991                            d  c1991 Sep10aHumans10aleprosy10aMass Screening10aMycobacterium leprae10aSkin1 aRao P S1 aEKAMBARAM V1 aReddy B N1 aKrishnamoorthy P1 aKumar S K1 aDutta A00aIs bacteriological examination by skin smear necessary in all paucibacillary leprosy patients in mass control programmes?  uhttp://leprev.ilsl.br/pdfs/1991/v62n3/pdf/v62n3a09.pdf  a303-90 v62  aInfolep Library - available3 a<p>Skin smear bacteriological examination results of 11,255 paucibacillary leprosy patients from 8 leprosy control units under the National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP) in South India and the Outpatient Department (OPD) of the Central Leprosy Teaching & Research Institute (CLT&RI), Chengalpattu, between 1987 and 1989 were collected and analysed. Only 0.05% of the smears from leprosy control units and 2.49% from the OPD of CLT&RI were found to be positive. Not a single smear from indeterminate, tuberculoid and pure neuritic types of leprosy out of 8263 examined was found positive under field conditions. The relevance of carrying out routine bacteriological examination in mass leprosy control programmes is discussed.</p>  a0305-7518