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Skin smears in leprosy: is reduction in number of sites justified?
S Sujai1, K Vilvanathan, K Nisha
1Department of Immunology and Clinical Pathology, Schieffelin Leprosy Research and Training Centre, Karigiri, Inde.
Acta Leprologica
|January 1, 1997
Abstract:
An analysis of 377 sets of positive skin smears of leprosy patients was done to determine the minimum sites needed to detect all smear positive leprosy patients. A combination of earlobe and a selective site could pick up 95.5% of the patients. An additional smear from the forehead increased the sensitivity of 97.7%. The results suggest that the sites for skin smears may be reduced to a combination of the earlobe and one selective site smear from a skin lesion to be able to detect most smear positive leprosy patients.