The scenario of lepra reactions in a tertiary care hospital in Central Karnataka

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Leprosy is a chronic disease with a benign course. Even though it is a curable disease, due to presence of bacilli in tissue hypersensitivity reaction may develop called lepra reactions. This study is conducted to see the number of patients with reactions, their onset, presentation, course and response to treatment.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> This is a retrospective study conducted over the period of 2 years from January 2017 to December 2019 in a tertiary care hospital of JJM Medical College at Davanagere. All confirmed cases after doing biopsy were included in the study. All the cases were classified according to Ridley-Jopling classification. Treatment was started based on World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for paucibacillary and multibacillary, for the duration of 6 months and 12 months accordingly.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Over the period of 2 years 178 cases of leprosy were registered. The majority of patients were seen in borderline tuberculoid leprosy spectrum (BT) that is in 29.2% of the patients, followed by in lepromatous leprosy (LL) seen in 26.4% of the patients. Lepra reactions were seen in 41 (23.03%) patients. Type 2 reaction (T2R) were more commonly observed that is in 27 patients (65.8%), type 1 reaction (T1R) is seen in 14 patients (34.1%). T2R were observed more commonly in LL spectrum.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Reactions are more damaging than the disease itself. Hence, early diagnosis and proper management is important to prevent further reactions. This is can be done by good clinical knowledge about the disease and reactions and proper follow up of cases.</p>