01824nas a2200361   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001200055653001200067653003100079653001100110653002300121653001200144653000900156653002100165653002500186653001600211653001500227100001100242700001600253700001600269700002100285700001600306700001500322700001200337700001400349245007600363856004100439300001000480490000700490520095100497022001401448       1996                            d  c1996 Sep10aAnimals10aDapsone10aDrug Resistance, Microbial10aHumans10aLeprostatic Agents10aleprosy10aMice10aMice, Inbred CBA10aMycobacterium leprae10aPhilippines10aPrevalence1 aCruz E1 aCellona R V1 aBalagon M V1 aVillahermosa L G1 aFajardo T T1 aAbalos R M1 aTan E V1 aWalsh G P00aPrimary dapsone resistance in Cebu, The Philippines; cause for concern.  uhttp://ila.ilsl.br/pdfs/v64n3a01.pdf  a253-60 v643 a<p>At a time when primary dapsone resistance was prevalent in many leprosy endemic areas, Cebu in The Philippines reported only 3.6% in the period 1975-1978 and later 8.1% in the period 1979-1982. In our current study of patients in the period 1988-1992, the number increased dramatically to 52.7%. In addition, 7.9% of the isolates are highly resistant to dapsone, a level of resistance not seen in earlier studies. This finding could have severe ramifications to the World Health Organization's multidrug therapy (WHO-MDT) mode of treatment, where dapsone is one of the principal drugs. Moreover, the increase in primary dapsone resistance may be a contributing factor in the recent finding that there has been no decline in the number of new cases found in Cebu, even after the implementation of WHO-MDT in 1985. There is a need for new drugs that could be included in the multidrug treatment for multibacillary and paucibacillary leprosy.</p>  a0148-916X