Childhood leprosy: Clinical and epidemiological study in the Department of Dermatology, Clinicas Hospital, Faculty of Medical Sciences, National University of Asuncion-Paraguay, 2005-2014

Introduction: Leprosy in childhood is not a common finding. The risk of a child to develop the disease is 4 times greater in contact with close people and 9 times higher among household contacts. The maximum risk observed is when the contact is Multibacillary (MB) and intradomicilliary. Leprosy in childhood reflects the clinical characteristics of adult, with some peculiar aspects. Non-contagious forms (IL and TT) are common during childhood. The contagious forms (BB, LB and LL) are less frequent due to higher required incubation period.

Aim: To describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of childhood leprosy in the Department of Dermatology, Clinicas Hospital from January 2005 to July 2014.

Methods: Retrospective, observational cross-sectional study with an analytical component.

Results: The total number of leprosy patients was 369, and of these 11 were pediatric patients (2.98%) with a predominance of males (8/11) from 3 to 16 years. The BI ranged from negative to 3+. 6/11 were MB. The evolution was good in all cases and two patients developed leprorreactions. The lesions were predominant in facial location. 6/11 patients had family contacts.

Conclusions: Leprosy in children is more common than is reported, especially in endemic areas. In <5 years, the disease is very rare. More than half of the cases of children with leprosy have a positive contact. It is considered that in <5 years the spread is always intradomiciliary; this shows the importance of monitoring contacts, which will be possible with the determination of all stakeholders in order to banish the undetected cases and prevent damage.