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Updated: Aug 12, 2026

DNA Fingerprinting of Mycobacterium leprae Strains Using Variable Number Tandem Repeat (VNTR) - Fragment Length Analysis (FLA)
Published on: July 15, 2011
[Leprosy simulating other diseases]
R López-Vélez1, T Sáez Vaquero, J L Blanco Arévalo
1Unidad de Medicina Tropical, Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid.
Abstract:
The low current prevalence of leprosy in Spain together with the diversity of its clinical expression make the detection of this disease difficult. Three native and three imported cases are here reported. Different specialists mistook this disease for other entities: familial polyneuropathy, autoimmune disease, tuberculosis, cutaneous mycosis, and cutaneous sarcoidosis. Lepra is a very polymorphic disease and its diagnosis is based on finding cutaneous hypoesthesic lesions, neural thickening and presence of acid-fast bacilli (in cutaneous specimens or nasal exudates).
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