Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. Five districts with the highest number of leprosy events, including the Camplong Subdistrict, have reported a continuous rise in the number of leprosy cases. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between the physical environment of the house, the presence of M. leprae DNA on the floor of the house and the presence of leprosy patients in Camplong Subdistrict, Sampang District. This study used a cross-sectional design. We collected data regarding 40 houses. The presence of M. leprae DNA in the floor samples was analyzed using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique; 10% of soil samples showed the presence of M. leprae DNA. Variables associated with the presence of leprosy patients were temperature and the wall of the house. We concluded that that the presence of M. leprae does not depend on the presence of leprosy patients in the house although, theoretically, the soil may be a transmission medium for M. leprae. Therefore, everyone residing in an endemic area has the same risk of M. leprae exposure from the environment. We recommend that programs be conducted in endemic areas to raise the knowledge of the population about what constitutes a healthy house.
Mycobacterium leprae

Our current knowledge of mycobacterial infections in humans has progressively increased over the past few decades. The infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes tuberculosis (TB) disease, which has reasoned for excessive morbidity and mortality worldwide, and has become a foremost issue of health problem globally. Mycobacterium leprae, another member of the family Mycobacteriaceae, is responsible for causing a chronic disease known as leprosy that mainly affects mucosa of the upper respiratory tract, skin, peripheral nerves, and eyes. Ample amount of existing data suggests that pathogenic mycobacteria have skilled in utilizing different mechanisms to escape or offset the host immune responses. They hijack the machinery of immune cells through the modulation of microRNAs (miRs), which regulate gene expression and immune responses of the host. Evidence shows that miRs have now gained considerable attention in the research, owing to their involvement in a broad range of inflammatory processes that are further implicated in the pathogenesis of several diseases. However, the knowledge of functions of miRs during mycobacterial infections remains limited. This review summarises recent findings of differential expression of miRs, which are used to good advantage by mycobacteria in offsetting host immune responses generated against them.
Apoptosis ; Chronic Disease ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Leprosy ; Macrophages ; MicroRNAs ; Mortality ; Mucous Membrane ; Mycobacteriaceae ; Mycobacterium leprae ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Peripheral Nerves ; Respiratory System ; Skin ; Tuberculosis ; United Nations

BACKGROUND: The causative agents of leprosy are the well-known Mycobacterium leprae and the newly discovered Mycobacterium lepromatosis. This agent was found in 2008, and it was found to be the cause of diffuse lepromatous leprosy in two Mexican patients. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this work was to determine if M. leprae and M. lepromatosis were present in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded skin samples from cases from different regions in Mexico. METHODS: A total of 41 skin samples were obtained from 11 states of Mexico. All patients' samples were diagnosed by clinical and histopathological analyses. Total DNA was isolated using a Qiagen-DNeasy blood and tissue kit and molecular identification was achieved by two semi-nested polymerase chain reactions. RESULTS: The 41 patient included 33 samples from men and 8 samples from women; 29 samples were polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive to Mycobacterium and 12 samples were PCR-negative. From those 29 samples, 13 were PCR-positive to M. leprae, 8 to M. lepromatosis and 8 were positive to both species. The histopathological diagnosis included; Nodular lepromatous leprosy (NLL); Diffuse lepromatous leprosy (DLL); and Borderline leprosy (BL). The 29 PCR-positive samples were classified as follow: 14 NLL, 4 DLL, and 11 BL. In the 12 samples negative to Mycobacterium, 7 showed the NLL, 2 DLL and 3 BL. CONCLUSION: These findings add evidence to the M. leprae and M. lepromatous distribution, clinical forms and participation of dual infections in Mexico.
Diagnosis ; DNA ; Female ; Hospital Distribution Systems ; Humans ; Leprosy ; Leprosy, Borderline ; Leprosy, Lepromatous ; Male ; Mexico* ; Mycobacterium leprae* ; Mycobacterium* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Skin*

Hansen's disease (leprosy) is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae which affect mainly skin and nerve systems. Currently the incidence of leprosy reached the goals set by WHO in the year 2000. In recent 10 years, only 47 new patients were found in Koreans and their average age was over 70. A 21 year-old young man showed multiple erythematous papules, macules and plaque at face, extremities and trunk. In family history, his grandfather was diagnosed with leprosy at young age and leprosy was recurred when the patient was 7 years old. The patient lived with grandfather from birth to 7 years old. Clinico-pathologically he was diagnosed with a lepromatous leprosy. We performed VNTR both at the skin tissue of grandfather and patient to find out the infection pathway of the patient and found some consistent. Herein, we report a new case of young Korean male transmitted from grandfather.
Communicable Diseases ; Extremities ; Grandparents ; Humans ; Incidence ; Leprosy* ; Leprosy, Lepromatous ; Male ; Minisatellite Repeats ; Mycobacterium leprae ; Parturition ; Skin

Hansen's disease(HD) is a chronic infectious disorder acquired by inoculation of Mycobacterium leprae. With the establishment of complex multidrug therapy, the incidence rate of leprosy patients has continually shown to decline by 90% compared to the incidence rate in the 1990s. However, the prevalence of the disease still remains high in southeast asian countries. Due to the rarity and diverse nature of cutaneous presentation, HD is often misdiagnosed with other dermatoses or infectious conditions. Especially, when a patient presents with unusual presentation with leprosy reaction with no classical feature such as sensory disorders and skin lesion, the diagnosis is further delayed with misguided treatments. Herein we present a 27-year-old Indonesian immigrant who displayed clinical features mimicking that of orbital cellulitis who was later diagnosed with borderline lepromatous leprosy through histologic and PCR confirmation, in light of alerting the probability of leprosy in immigrants with intractable skin presentations.
Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Diagnosis ; Emigrants and Immigrants ; Humans ; Incidence ; Leprosy ; Leprosy, Borderline ; Leprosy, Multibacillary ; Mycobacterium leprae ; Orbit ; Orbital Cellulitis ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence ; Sensation Disorders ; Skin ; Skin Diseases

BACKGROUND: It has proven challenging to investigate the molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, due to difficulties with culturing of the organism and a lack of genetic heterogeneity between strains. Recently, A panel of variable-number tandem-repeat (VNTR) markers and an alternative method, structure-neighbor clustering, which assigns isolates with the most similar genotypes to the same groups and, subsequently, subgroups, without inferring how the strains descended from a common ancestor have been developed. METHODS: A total of 29 samples from Korea found cases were studied by 14 VTRN typing and an alternative method, structure-neighbor clustering with 13 and 14 VNTRs by Structure Program(k=10). RESULTS: Only 286 cases of 522 total cases(including database of Bellingham Research Institute) showed p>0.8(in 13 and 14 VNTRs). Almost Korea found cases(18 cases) were included in group 3(13 VNTRs), in group 9(14 VNTRs)(by Structure Program, k=10). CONCLUSIONS: The structure-neighbor clustering by Structure Program with panels of VNTR is a useful approach for investigating the molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium leprae.
Cluster Analysis ; Genetic Heterogeneity ; Genotype ; Korea ; Leprosy ; Methods ; Molecular Epidemiology ; Mycobacterium leprae ; Mycobacterium

BACKGROUND: Conventional acid-fast bacilli (AFB) staining cannot differentiate viable from dead cells. Propidium monoazide (PMA) is a photoreactive DNA-binding dye that inhibits PCR amplification by DNA modification. OBJECT: The author evaluated whether PMA real-time PCR is suitable for the viablity of Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae) in specimens of cultivation in mouse foot pads. METHODS: A total of 55 diluted suspensions from mouse foot pads were quadruplicated and subjected to PMA treatment and/or heat inactivation, and were also tested to compare the ΔCT values (CT value in PMA-treated samples-CT value in non-PMA-treated samples). Real-time PCR was performed using QuantiTect SYBR® Green PCR Kits(Qiagen, USA), and the CT value changes after PMA treatment were compared between PMA treatment and/or heat inactivation groups. RESULTS: The increase in the CT value after PMA treatment was significant in heat inactivated group(4.26) and non-heat inactivated group(1.12)(both P = 0.000). In the ROC curve analysis, the cutoff ΔCT value for maximum sensitivity (100%) and specificity (97.1%) for differentiating dead from live cells was 2.41 CONCLUSIONS: PMA real-time PCR is a useful approach for evaluating viablity of M. leprae.
Animals ; DNA ; Foot ; Hot Temperature ; Mice ; Mycobacterium leprae* ; Mycobacterium* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Propidium* ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Suspensions

Leprosy is a chronic granulomatous disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The prevalence and number of new cases have recently markedly decreased in Korea, and the possibility of leprosy can therefore be clinically overlooked. However, leprosy is still endemic in various regions of the world. A 30 year-old male immigrant from Indonesia presented with an erythematous plaque without sensory loss on his face six months after immigration. The skin lesion was diagnosed as tuberculoid leprosy based on clinico-pathology.
Emigrants and Immigrants* ; Emigration and Immigration ; Granulomatous Disease, Chronic ; Humans ; Indonesia ; Korea ; Leprosy ; Leprosy, Tuberculoid* ; Male* ; Mycobacterium leprae ; Prevalence ; Skin

4,4'-diaminodiphenyl sulfone (dapsone) is a sulfone drug that has antibacterial effects on a variety of bacteria, especially Mycobacterium leprae; thus, it has been used to treat leprosy. Previous studies demonstrated that dapsone inhibits integrin-mediated adherence of neutrophils and production of prostaglandin E2 by polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Hence, dapsone may act in immune cells and regulate cell-mediated inflammation processes. However, its anti-inflammatory effects remain unclear. The present study demonstrated that dapsone modulates the production of inflammation-related cytokines in immune cells. We employed the spleen cells of mice, which are major immune cells, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a causative agent of inflammation for experiments. Dapsone induced a proportional change in splenocyte subsets and the apoptosis of spleen cells. Interestingly, dapsone decreased the production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin (IL)-10, but not IL-6, in LPS-treated spleen cells. In other assays, we measured the dapsone-induced production of nitric oxide (NO) and the expression of activation markers of spleen cells. Dapsone decreased NO production in LPS-treated spleen cells. Taken together, our results demonstrate that dapsone has anti-inflammatory effects in immune cells and provide new insight into the potential uses of this agent.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Bacteria ; Cytokines* ; Dapsone ; Dinoprostone ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-6 ; Interleukins ; Leprosy ; Mice ; Mycobacterium leprae ; Neutrophils ; Nitric Oxide ; Spleen* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Adult ; Female ; Heat-Shock Proteins ; genetics ; Humans ; Leprosy ; diagnosis ; genetics ; microbiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mycobacterium leprae ; pathogenicity ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Skin ; metabolism