Experimental chemotherapy in leprosy

The Memorandum reviews the considerable progress that has been made in research on the chemotherapy of leprosy during the last 10-15 years, as a result of which it is now possible to study the same topics in leprosy as are studied in other bacterial diseases. Thus drugs have been screened in mice for their activity against Mycobacterium leprae. Those that have been found to have the greatest activity against M. leprae at acceptable dosages-dapsone, rifampicin, and clofazimine-have been characterized in terms of the minimal effective dosage and rate of bacterial kill. Similarly, their pharmacokinetics in man and in certain animals have been defined. The theoretical basis for drug trials in leprosy patients is discussed in terms of the number of viable and the number of dead M. leprae that remain at various stages of therapy.

Leprosy in Louisiana, 1855-1970. An epidemiologic study of long-term trends

Study of a well known focus of leprosy in Louisiana in 1855-1970 showed a decrease in incidence which began before the use of chemotherapy. Many of the cases had onset in a limited area of Louisiana, French Louisiana, where there was a high incidence of multiple family cases. Overall incidence rates were found to be decreasing for each cohort of birth, and within cohorts after 1920, the highest incidence rates were in the age group 10-19. A high incidence rate was found for cases with onset in the years 1900-1929; rather than an epidemic, this was probably related to bias in the recording of year of onset. Although persistent for a long period, the focus remained limited in geographic extent and seems to be disappearing.