02907nas a2200481   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001500055653001000070653000900080653002600089653001000115653002100125653001100146653001100157653002200168653001100190653001300201653001200214653002500226653002500251653000900276653001100285653001600296653002500312653002400337653001700361100001600378700002500394700001800419700001700437700001300454700002200467700001400489700001700503700001400520245009100534856004100625300001000666490000700676520172800683022001402411       1990                            d  c1990 Dec10aAdolescent10aAdult10aAged10aAntibodies, Bacterial10aChild10aChild, Preschool10aFamily10aFemale10aFollow-Up Studies10aHumans10aLepromin10aleprosy10aLeprosy, lepromatous10aLeprosy, Tuberculoid10aMale10aMexico10aMiddle Aged10aMycobacterium leprae10aProspective Studies10aRisk Factors1 aAmezcua M E1 aEscobar-Gutiérrez A1 aBarba-Rubio J1 aCázares J V1 aMayén E1 aChávez-Núñez M1 aPeña R C1 aRodríguez R1 aPastén S00aProspective immunological follow-up in household contacts of Mexican leprosy patients.  uhttp://ila.ilsl.br/pdfs/v58n4a02.pdf  a651-90 v583 a<p>A 6-year prospective study of 79 household contacts of leprosy cases was made in order to correlate the development of the disease with their specific T-cell immunity, measured by the Mitsuda test, and levels of anti-Mycobacterium leprae antibodies determined in three consecutive observations with the FLA-ABS test. Overall in the contacts, 71.7% were Mitsuda positive and 93.6% showed seropositivity, without regard to their age, sex, or leprosy type of their index case. Households were divided into lower-risk and higher-risk groups according to either the paucibacillary or multibacillary character of their index case. The lower-risk group consisted of 19 contacts of 2 tuberculoid (TT) and 5 indeterminate cases. The higher-risk group was made up of 60 household contacts of 18 active lepromatous (LL) cases. All but two contacts in the former group had a positive Mitsuda reaction; the most common antibody titer was 1:160, with a tendency to stabilize or decrease over time. In the two Mitsuda-negative contacts, increased antibody levels were observed. In the higher-risk group, 61.6% were Mitsuda positive and showed a humoral profile similar to those Mitsuda positive in the lower-risk group. In most of the Mitsuda-negative LL contacts, the antibody levels remained constant or progressively increased, suggesting a high probability of active subclinical infection. This assumption was partially supported by the finding of a new borderline lepromatous (BL) leprosy case in the Mitsuda-negative LL contact group. Nevertheless, the contribution of the close and extensive contact with a multibacilliferous case as a risk factor was difficult to evaluate because of the small size of the sample studied.</p>
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