01674nas a2200301   4500000000100000008004100001260000900042653001000051653002000061653001200081653001800093653001100111653001100122653002300133653002500156100002100181700002200202700002300224700001700247700001700264700002600281700001700307245016800324300001000492490000700502520084900509022001401358       2009                            d  c200910aAdult10aAgranulocytosis10aDapsone10aFatal Outcome10aFemale10aHumans10aLeprostatic Agents10aLeprosy, Tuberculoid1 aSatarasinghe R L1 aJayawardana M A R1 aDe Silva G V T S K1 aMurugathas S1 aRiyaaz A A A1 aWickrmasingha U D U K1 aWijesinghe R00aTotal agranulocytosis caused by dapsone therapy for tuberculoid leprosy--an unappreciated serious side effect of anti-leprosy treatment with clinical implications.  a325-90 v243 a<p>Dapsone-induced agranulocytosis is a rare but potentially fatal adverse effect of treatment for tuberculoid leprosy. Publications distributed by the WHO Leprosy Elimination Campaign for patient information on leprosy do not contain any advice or guidelines for post-dapsone therapy follow-up. As a result of this major deficiency, the local anti-leprosy campaign in Sri Lanka has no such guidelines on dapsone therapy for leprosy patients. We report two patients with total agranulocytosis caused by dapsone therapy for tuberculoid leprosy including one fatality. As leprosy is more prevalent in developing countries such as Sri Lanka, we recommend that WHO publications on patient information should include post-dapsone therapy follow-up guidelines to avoid such catastrophes which are undetected until the patients are critically ill.</p>  a0792-5077