Corticosteroid pulse therapy for leprosy complicated by a severe type 1 reaction

A 24-year-old Vietnamese woman presented with a 3-month history of non-itchy erythematous plaques on the face, trunk and limbs. Borderline lepromatous leprosy was confirmed by clinical findings, acid-fast bacilli on skin biopsy specimen and skin smear and a history of exposure. Around the twentieth day of World Health Organization (WHO) multibacillary standard treatment (rifampin 600 mg per month, dapsone 100 mg per day, clofazimine 300 mg per month and 50 mg per day for 1 year), she developed fever, general malaise, blurred vision, cough, nausea, epigastric pain, and arthralgia. The skin lesions also became swollen. During hospitalization, her illness was complicated by retrobulbar optic neuritis, secondary bacterial pneumonia, pleuritis, ascites, hepatitis, antral gastritis, progressive normocytic anemia, and peripheral sensory loss. The patient recovered after receiving systemic steroid pulse therapy (prednisolone equivalent dose 1250 mg) with systemic antibiotics (cefuroxime), adjustment of her anti-lepromatous therapy, and supportive care. She resumed the WHO multibacillary regimen uneventfully. This patient presented with a diverse type 1 reaction, which is a complex immune response in leprosy. We found that the judicious use of high dose steroids followed by a slow tapering course is beneficial in managing patients with a severe type 1 reaction. At the 1-year follow up, the patient had generalized skin hyperpigmentation resulted from long-term clofazamine use and numbness on feet without other systemic sequelae.