[Leprosy - An overview from a pediatric perspective]

Worldwide tourism is an increasing industry. One result of this phenomenon is the occurrence of imported infectious diseases, as recently observed even in Germany. Leprosy ranks high among dreaded infectious diseases from tropical and subtropical countries. It remains a major health threat despite marked improvements in diagnosis and therapy. This was achieved by a better understanding of bacteriological and immunological mechanisms over the past decades, resulting in a decline of Leprosy's incidence.