Clinico-epidemiological and histopathological study of newly diagnosed leprosy patients at tertiary care center

Background: Leprosy, also well-known as Hansen’s disease, is a chronic granulomatous infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. In spite of having been declared eliminated in December 2005 from India as a public health problem, India has still 60% of the entire global case load. This study entailed the epidemiological, clinical features and histopathological findings of new leprosy patients and assessing the current situation of leprosy at a tertiary level referral center in central India.

Materials and Methods: A total of 60 Leprosy patients belonging to Ujjain and its adjoining districts attending the out patient Department of Dermatology at R.D Gardi Medical College, Ujjain (M.P.), over a period of 12 month i.e. Jan-2019 to Dec-2019 constituted the subject material for study. The data was analysed for Clinico-epidemiological and histopathological characteristics.

Results: Out of all leprosy outpatients, Maximum number of patient belonged to age groups of 21-40 years and 2 cases of childhood leprosy were recorded. Male preponderance with M: F ratio was 3:1. Family history was seen in 3 patients (5.0%). 73.3% patients hailed from rural area. Borderline Tuberculoid (19 patients) was commonest clinical presentation. The overall clinico-histopathological concordance observed was 75%.

Conclusions: The present study gives a general picture about the current trends of Leprosy in this particular region and highlights the importance of both clinical & histopathological examination and determining parity between their findings. This study emphasizes the need of spread of awareness about the disease, facilities for investigation and early diagnosis.