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OBJECTIVE: To undertake the pilot experiments of prevention of disability (POD) in 14 different geographical areas to serve as examples for future development of rehabilitation work in China and in Asia. METHODS: According to the principles and national criterion, 27 000 people affected by leprosy were selected and assessed using disability record forms at beginning and followed up regularly for observing changes of different indicators. RESULTS: A total of 197 neuritis cases were detected and treated with prednisolone out of 1 407 new or active cases. Self-care training of eyes, hands and feet were conducted for 10 500 disabled people affected by leprosy. Comprehensive therapy was given to 1 804 cases having complicated ulcers of which 1 055 cases have got their ulcers healed. Out of 706 prostheses, 613 were given to patients with satisfactory results. Surgical treatment was given to 269 cases and 251 have shown good progress. CONCLUSION: Most of patients have got benefit from the project in function or appearance which is very helpful for their going back to the society and agreed by foreign experts during the final evaluation. The experiences from the project can be implemented in the whole country.

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Recent advances in treatment have achieved a large drop in the prevalence of active leprosy cases, but the incidence is at best decreasing slowly. Most people within leprosy-endemic populations have been exposed to Mycobacterium leprae, but few develop disease and it seems likely that the majority of the population develops protective immunity. If the site of initial infection is in the nose, dissemination of bacilli around the body to skin and nerve implies that the initial infection is bacilliferous and it has been shown that nasal M. leprae are detectable by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of nasal swabs. Since salivary anti-M. leprae IgA (sMLIgA) levels are correlated with protection, we have surveyed groups of leprosy patients, contacts and the general population for both their sMLIgA and nasal PCR positivity. A total of 304 subjects were enrolled in the study: PCR and mucosal challenge tests were performed in 204 of these individuals. sMLIgA was present in 66% of treated patients, 76% of leprosy workers and 72% of healthy contacts. However, only 33% of indigenous subjects were sMLIgA+, in contrast to the earlier studies showing 74% positivity. PCR for M. leprae was present in both household contacts (2%) and indigenous controls (5%). In a subsequent follow-up study, nasal swabs were taken from 97 of those studied in the first series: three PCR+ individuals followed up after one year became negative, while of the remaining 94 PCR- individuals retested, 2 became positive. Of 112 subjects retested with the mucosal challenge test for sMLIgA: 22 converted from positive to negative and 12 from negative to positive. These results suggest that there is widespread subclinical transmission of M. leprae with transient infection of the nose resulting in the development of a mucosal immune response, despite the fact that few individuals will develop clinical disease. This may explain the current lack of effect of multidrug therapy (MDT) control programmes on incidence, although the reduction in general population immunity is consistent with some effect of MDT on transmission.

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There is little information about the mucosal immune response in leprosy. We have developed a nasal provocation test with leprosin A which will be used to investigate mucosal immunity to Mycobacterium leprae. Initial studies were performed with increasing doses of leprosin A (1.0 pg/ml-10 micrograms/ml) to determine the optimal safe dose of leprosin A. Anti-M. leprae IgA antibody and normal IgA concentrations were measured in the saliva of leprosy contacts and controls before and after instillation of leprosin A. Nasal leprosin A was well tolerated up to a concentration of 10 micrograms/ml without side effects. None of the six subjects who had not been exposed to leprosy had salivary IgA against whole M. leprae, whereas IgA was detected from 64 h to 140 h following instillation of leprosin A in all of the leprosy hospital workers and in 15 out of 18 healthy household contacts tested. There was no correlation between serum and salivary anti-M. leprae IgA levels before and after testing. Salivary IgA anti-lipoarabinomannan responses were seen in 12 out of 20 household contacts. Normal salivary IgA concentrations varied from 8 to 240 mg/l. The leprosin A nasal provocation test appears to be a safe method for the investigation of the role of mucosal immunity in the pathogenesis of leprosy.

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AIMS: To identify the histological changes in leprosy skin lesions over the first few weeks after the start of leprosy treatment and to examine their relationship to reversal reaction. METHODS: Sequential skin biopsy during treatment with multiple drug therapy. In this study, a series of 28 patients was studied, from whom two or more biopsies were taken at two week intervals. Fourteen patients had paucibacillary leprosy (PBL) and 14 had multibacillary leprosy (MBL). RESULTS: In most cases, granuloma fraction and bacterial index fell during treatment, the bacterial index being less sensitive than the granuloma fraction. Since the biopsies were fixed in buffered formalin and processed through to paraffin wax, little immunohistochemistry was feasible. However, there was strong evidence of immune activation, with increased expression of HLA-DR in the granulomas of MBL and PBL cases: the epidermis also expressed HLA-DR in several patients. Such changes may reflect gamma IFN production from granuloma lymphocytes. Patients with reversal reaction often showed HLA-DR expression on admission which decreased with corticosteroid treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that activation of cell mediated immunity in leprosy lesions occurs during treatment with multiple drug therapy and may not be restricted to those with clinical evidence of reversal reaction.

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Pooled sera from leprosy patients across the clinical spectrum, tuberculosis patients and healthy individuals were tested for their reactivity with antigens of Mycobacterium leprae and a panel of cultivable mycobacteria by immunoprecipitation technique. Sera from lepromatous leprosy patients demonstrated exclusive reactivity with the 26-kDa protein of M. tuberculosis H37Ra, 28-kDa protein of M. kansasii, 45-kDa protein of M. smegmatis, and 158, 40 and 14 kDa proteins of M. phlei. Sera from patients with borderline tuberculoid leprosy, tuberculoid leprosy, tuberculosis and health individuals failed to identify these antigens. Our studies indicate that analysis and characterization of immunodominant antigenic epitopes present on proteins of cultivable mycobacteria, sharing cross-reactive epitopes with M. leprae may prove to be important in the serodiagnosis of multibacillary leprosy as well as for developing vaccines for immunotherapy of leprosy.

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Lymphocyte proliferative responses and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production after stimulation with antigens of ICRC, Mycobacterium leprae, and purified protein derivative (PPD) were assessed in leprosy patients and healthy donors. The patients studied were newly diagnosed as having lepromatous leprosy (LL), multidrug therapy (MDT) responders (MDT-R LL), MDT nonresponders (MDT-NR LL), borderline lepromatous (BL), and borderline tuberculoid/tuberculoid (BT/TT) leprosy. The tuberculoid leprosy patients showed increased lymphocyte proliferation and IFN-gamma production in response to stimulation with ICRC, M. leprae, and PPD antigens compared to other groups of LL patients and healthy donors. Although lymphocytes from LL patients showed low responses to ICRC and M. leprae antigens, their responses to PPD were not grossly affected. MDT-R LL patients showed higher lymphocyte proliferative responses and IFN-gamma production after stimulation with ICRC and PPD but not with M. leprae antigens. Tuberculoid leprosy patients showed higher T-cell frequencies to ICRC and M. leprae antigens compared to MDT-R LL and MDT-NR LL patients. The increased lymphocyte proliferative responses to ICRC observed in the MDT-R LL patients was reflected in the increased T-cell frequency to ICRC compared to M. leprae.

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Under conditions of maximal thermoregulatory peripheral dilatation, most healthy subjects (both Indian and European) showed raised blood flow in the fingertips (measured by laser Doppler flowmetry) where the skin temperature is only slightly lower than the core body temperature. Most borderline lepromatous (BL) leprosy patients had much colder fingers and the blood flow was slow: borderline tuberculoid (BT) patients had skin temperatures similar to those seen in healthy subjects, but their fingertip blood flow was reduced relative to that in control subjects. The occurrence of cold fingers and slow blood flow was clearly associated with evidence of sensory impairment to light touch, pressure and temperature. Slower fingertip blood flow was strongly associated with impairment of vasomotor control in this anatomical region, suggesting that both may be a consequence of leprosy peripheral neuropathy, at least in patients with early leprosy, but it is likely that leprosy arteriopathy may contribute to the lowered peripheral perfusion in advanced cases. It is suggested that the simple clinical sign of cold fingers may be of value in the preliminary assessment of patients presenting at any leprosy control clinic in the tropics.

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Sera from leprosy patients across the clinical spectrum, healthy contacts, tuberculosis patients, and healthy donors were tested for their reactivity with antigens of mycobacterial strain ICRC (a cultivable mycobacterium) and Mycobacterium leprae by immunoprecipitation technique. Using M. leprae antigens, it was not possible to distinguish between reactivities of sera from lepromatous, borderline lepromatous, borderline tuberculoid, and tuberculoid leprosy patients. All these sera identified M. antigens with molecular masses of 47, 36, 21, and 14 kDa. When the same sera were tested for their reactivities with antigens of mycobacterial strain ICRC, several differences were observed. The 21-kDa antigen of mycobacterial strain ICRC was exclusively precipitated by sera from all lepromatous leprosy patients and from those undergoing erythema nodosum leprosum reaction. Sera from all the other donors tested failed to identify the 21-kDa antigen of mycobacterial strain ICRC. The 14-kDa protein of mycobacterial strain ICRC was identified by sera from a few lepromatous leprosy patients (5 of 26) and all their contacts. Our studies indicate that antigens present on cultivable mycobacteria rather than species-specific antigens may prove to be useful in the serodiagnosis of leprosy.

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Serum lipids and lipoproteins were assessed in sixty leprosy and forty age and sex matched healthy controls. The study subjects included cases of LL with reactions, LL without reactions, BL with reactions, BL without reactions, BT and TT types of leprosy. The levels of serum phospholipids, triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL and VLDL fractions were significantly decreased in leprosy patients compared to control subjects. The levels of serum HDL cholesterol and HDL fraction were significantly elevated in leprosy patients. Maximum elevation in serum HDL cholesterol level and HDL fraction and maximum reduction in the levels of serum phospholipids, triglycerides, total cholesterol and LDL and VLDL fractions were observed in lepromatous leprosy (LL) patients with reactions.

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Fingertip blood-flow velocity and its control by vasomotor reflexes were studied in leprosy patients and in healthy controls with a laser Doppler flowmeter. In newly registered patients, the flow was significantly lower than in the healthy controls, and even lower values were recorded in the long-standing patients with lower limb ulcers and/or deformity. The newly registered patients showed substantially impaired vasomotor reflex responses in the fingertips to cold challenge of the opposite hand or deep inspiratory gasp. Low blood flow and impairment of vasomotor reflexes were more prominent in those leprosy patients who showed clinical evidence of neuropathy and/or histological evidence of reaction in a punch biopsy of leprosy skin lesions. This aspect of dysautonomia to cold challenge was particularly prominent in apparently healthy, fully treated ex-patients. There was an unexpectedly high prevalence of impairment of vasomotor reflexes in newly registered and apparently healthy, adequately treated leprosy patients. The method is very sensitive, and it remains to be established whether the lesions it detects are nonprogressive residues, or previous nerve damage, or an indication of on-going nerve damage. A minority of leprosy contacts showed impairment of vasomotor reflexes. Those with two or more affected fingers were more likely to have had a higher level of exposure to Mycobacterium leprae than those with one or no affected fingers. The cause of this unexpected impairment of fingertip vasomotor reflexes in a minority of leprosy control workers has not yet been determined.

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A method is described for eliciting fingertip vasomotor reflexes by inspiratory gasp and contralateral hand cold challenge. The results of the two tests are reproducible on replicate testing and, when taken together, have proved reliable for detection of impairment of autonomic reflexes in 10 newly registered leprosy patients who did not have any obvious deformity. Similar, but less severe, impairment of vasomotor reflexes was noted in a group of 10 fully treated, apparently cured ex-leprosy patients, none of whom showed clinically obvious neuropathy. Both the new patients and the ex-patients were significantly different from healthy contacts and from healthy Europeans, who were indistinguishable by this test. Evidence is presented suggesting that impairment of these vasomotor reflexes is mainly due to damage to the efferent pathway in the peripheral nerves. The method might prove valuable for investigation of early nerve damage in new patients or during reversal reactions in leprosy at a stage before irreversible damage is done.

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In this paper we have assessed the mitogen responses of leprosy patients and healthy donors in terms of proliferation and cytokine production (Interleukin 2 and Interferon gamma). The patients investigated included untreated and multidrug therapy non-responsive LL patients and MDT responsive LL and TT patients. The mitogen responses of untreated and multidrug therapy non responsive LL patients were not significantly different from those of the healthy donors. It was interesting to note that TT and multidrug therapy responsive LL patients showed higher responses to mitogens than healthy donors as assessed by all three parameters. The results suggest a correlation of increased mitogenic responses with improvement in clinical status in leprosy.

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