Age, gender and BCG vaccination status as risk factors for Leprosy in endemic areas of northern Brazil.

Abstract Background In 2018, 208.619 new cases of the leprosy were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). Of these, 30.957 occurred in the Americas region and 28.660 (92.6% of the total in the Americas) were reported in Brazil. This study aimed to show the reality of the profile of a population in an endemic leprosy area in northern Brazil in relation to age, gender and BCG (bacilo Calmette-Guérin) vaccination status, through the collection of data in the field with evaluation of the study individuals, recruited by spontaneous demand.Methods 405 individuals participated in the study, being 100 multibacillary, 57 paucibacillary and 248 healthy contacts.Results A relationship was observed between the occurrence of the disease, as well as the multibacillary form with the largest age group. The male gender was associated with leprosy per se, with the multibacillary form and was the largest representative of the group that was not vaccinated once.Conclusion BCG vaccination was effective both in protecting against leprosy per se and in the multibacillary form. These results are limited by sample size, may not be conclusive and will need further confirmation in a larger cohort.