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Treatment of paucibacillary leprosy
Background:
When multidrug therapy was introduced a decade ago to shorten the duration of treatment, paucibacillary leprosy was advocated 6 months of treatment. The diagnosis is based mainly on clinical and histopathologic examination, negative slit-skin smear examination, and positive lepromin test.
Methods:
The case records of 508 paucibacillary leprosy patients attending our urban leprosy center have been analyzed with reference to regularity of therapy, response to multidrug regimen, follow-up, and relapse.
Results:
The incidence of paucibacillary leprosy was found to be 37%. Defaulter rate was 45%. Nine percent of the cases attended the center with deformities emphasizing the need for corrective surgery and early case detection to prevent them.
Conclusions:
The main problem that we faced was the optimum duration of treatment, which is as yet an unsettled question. The opinions of other workers have been given, and a slight modification in current WHO regimen has been suggested without significantly affecting the cost of therapy.