RESUMO
A group of 240 children born of leprous parents, ranging in age from newly born to 8 years, has been observed with the object of detecting the earliest clinically recognizable changes that may be attributed to leprosy. A group of 78 children of nonleprous parents was also examined once, for comparison. The observation were for the most part clinical, microscopic examination of smears having been made only for definitely suspicious lesions: sections could not be obtained except from cases that came to autopsy. The commonest type of suspected (that is unidentified) skin lesion found that could not be attributed directly to known nonleprotic skin affections was the hazy pale area first described by Chiyuto. Its incidence was found to increase with age, and it was observed in 96 per cent of all the children of lepers above one year of age. Of much less frequent occurrence were the rough, scaly or granular pale areas and the pale mottlings which showed no definite relation to age, the markedly pale or depigmented areas without definite borders, and the gooseflesh, follicular, or lichenoid areas which were found more frequently in the older than in the younger age groups...