Leprosy in young urban children.

Prevalence among leprosy patients of children in the age group of 0-14 years was 3.8%, with 9 male preponderance. The children were largely immigrants from the endemic neighboring states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. A borderline group formed the bulk of the patients. The disease had its onset between ages 5 and 9 in more than half the patients. There was a striking contrast between the age at onset and that of reporting. Usually, the lesions were multiple. Single lesions were, however, present on the exposed parts. Skin-slit-smears were positive in borderline borderline (BB), borderline lepromatous (BL), and lepromatous lepromatous (LL) only. A good clinicopathologic correlation was apparent in most patients.