Childhood leprosy scenario at a tertiary level hospital: A four - year retrospective study

Childhood leprosy is an important marker of the status of any ongoing leprosy control programme because it is an indicator of active disease transmission in the community. Studies pertaining to proportion and characteristics of paediatric cases from Bihar are few in number. Hence, present study was carried out to know the scenario of childhood leprosy. A retrospective analysis of 4 year records of leprosy patients aged up to 14 years in a tertiary care hospital of Bihar, was carried out from June 2014 to May 2018. A total number of 72 (9.31% of total leprosy) cases of childhood leprosy reported to AIIMS, Patna, Bihar, India during this 4-year period. The majority of cases belonged to the age group of 11-14 year (84.72%) with a male preponderance. Borderline tuberculoid was the commonest clinical type (44%) followed by tuberculoid type (29%). Borderline lepromatous, Indeterminate form, Histoid leprosy and Pure Neural type was seen in 2, 4, 1, 2 cases respectively. Multibacillary (MB) cases constituted a total of 39 (54.16%), while remaining 33 (45.83%) were of paucibacillary (PB) type. A solitary skin lesions either a hypo-pigmented or an erythematous patch with decreased sensation with or without thickened nerve was the most frequent manifestation in 34 cases (47.22%) followed by 2-5 skin lesions in 29 (40.27%) and more than 5 skin lesions or diffuse infiltration in 9 (12.5%) patients. Although nerve thickening was seen in 32 (44%) cases, neuritis and lepra reactions were less common. Disability was noted in 15.27% cases (Grade1 disability in 2.7% and Grade 2 disability in 12.5%). History of contact was found in 51.38% cases. Continuous and sustained efforts for early case detection of leprosy cases in the community in general, and a close follow-up of susceptible children amongst household contacts of leprosy cases will be desirable to treat these cases of childhood leprosy early before they develop any disability. Intense efforts are thus required to achieve the target of zero disability in child leprosy cases set in the Global Leprosy Strategy 2016-2020.