Determination of different populations of blood lymphocytes in Brazilian patients with hanseniasis.

The number of B and T lymphocytes were determined in the blood of 35 Brazilian patients with leprosy: 19 lepromatous (L), 9 borderline (B), 4 tuberculoid (T), and 3 indeterminate (I) and also in a control group of 30 normal individuals. The results, were as follows. B lymphocytes, no differences between the patients with hanseniasis and the control group; T lymphocytes, there was an evident depletion in the patients with L compared to the control group and patients with T; and the average of T lymphocytes in B and I was lower than that seen in the control group and in patients with T. Despite this alteration they approach to what is found in the patients with T and the control group.