TY - JOUR
KW - Antirheumatic Agents
KW - Arthritis, Infectious
KW - Arthritis, Rheumatoid
KW - Diagnosis, Differential
KW - Female
KW - Humans
KW - Leprostatic Agents
KW - leprosy
KW - Middle Aged
AU - Henriques CC
AU - Lopéz B
AU - Mestre T
AU - Grima B
AU - Panarra A
AU - Riso N
AB - <p>Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic granulomatous infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae with a high prevalence in some developing countries however, it is rarely seen in non-endemic regions. Arthritis has been described in all types of Hansen's disease. Chronic arthritis is known to exist even in paucibacillary forms, resolved or treated disease and in patients without reaction, suggesting a perpetuated inflammatory process. In these cases leprosy can mimic some autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. When a patient with a history of leprosy presents with a symmetric, distal, polyarthritis the diagnosis may not be linear. Possibly it is a rheumatoid-like leprous arthritis with M leprae acting as the trigger element for the chronic process or it is an overlap condition, with a concomitant rheumatoid arthritis? A case report of a patient with a chronic inflammatory arthritis with 10 years of evolution is presented. The differential diagnosis between leprous and rheumatoid arthritis is discussed.</p>
BT - BMJ case reports
C1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22891014?dopt=Abstract
DA - 2012 Aug 13
DO - 10.1136/bcr.12.2011.5346
J2 - BMJ Case Rep
LA - eng
N2 - <p>Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic granulomatous infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae with a high prevalence in some developing countries however, it is rarely seen in non-endemic regions. Arthritis has been described in all types of Hansen's disease. Chronic arthritis is known to exist even in paucibacillary forms, resolved or treated disease and in patients without reaction, suggesting a perpetuated inflammatory process. In these cases leprosy can mimic some autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. When a patient with a history of leprosy presents with a symmetric, distal, polyarthritis the diagnosis may not be linear. Possibly it is a rheumatoid-like leprous arthritis with M leprae acting as the trigger element for the chronic process or it is an overlap condition, with a concomitant rheumatoid arthritis? A case report of a patient with a chronic inflammatory arthritis with 10 years of evolution is presented. The differential diagnosis between leprous and rheumatoid arthritis is discussed.</p>
PY - 2012
T2 - BMJ case reports
TI - Leprosy and rheumatoid arthritis: consequence or association?
VL - 2012
SN - 1757-790X
ER -