Hansenologia internationalis最新文献

The authors compare the bacilloscopic involution in 37 dimorphous Virchowian (DS) patients and in 47 Virchowian (V) patients with definite polarity treated with 200 mg daily of DDS during up to 20 years. After 5 years of treatment the DV patients presented negative bacilloscopy of the nasal mucus in 93% of the cases and of the skin in 81%. The control group of V patients showed, at the same time, negative bacilloscopy of the nasal mucus in 81% of the cases and of the skin only in 29,7%. After 10 years of treatment 19,21% of the DV patients and 32% of the V cases showed positive skin bacilloscopy. It was concluded that the DV patients presented better responses to the sulphone therapy although a Virchowian aggravation had been observed in about one fifth of the DV cases. Considering that the DV patients represent 25% of the group of 150 D patients studied and that the DD and DT did not present a Virchowian aggravation, it was concluded that of the whole D group (DV, DD, DT) 4% of the patients presented Virchowian aggravation in spite of the sulphone treatment.

The authors studied some characteristics of hanseniasis, through registered data, in the Public Health District of Londrina, in the State of Paraná, Brazil. As mean finds, they verified that 49,3% of the patients were V + D cases; 29,5% were I cases and 21,2% T cases. "Incidence", in Londrina city, ranged between 6,6 to 18,7 per 100.000 and the prevalence rate, calculated by the last years, was even greater than 3,0 per 1000. The authors concluded that the area is highly endemical for hanseniasis.

The purpose of this work is to analyze the epidemiological changes that have occurred in São Paulo due to geographical and historical influences. This research was made during the period of 1963 to 1977, covering 6,664 cases and two main aspects: origin and age. In 1977, Sao Paulo presented 5,179 inhabitants per square kilometer and a percentage of 5,3 hanseniasis patients per square kilometer. The data compiled during the research have led to the following conclusions: São Paulo has become an important economical center and as such a point of attraction to intense migratory currents; this increase has caused the formation of unplanned and outnumbered populational centers in the outskirts which are obstacles to medical and social welfare assistance and to diagnosis and control as well; changes in the social and economical structures leading to a poorer family life; increase in the possibilities of transmission of hanseniasis either by non-intimate or long-termed contacts; decrease in the number of cases in the same family and, finally, the characterization of hanseniasis as a grown-up and urban disease.

The LDH isoenzymes levels in fresh serum of seven patients affected by different forms of hanseniasis from Argentina, were measured by acrylamide electrophoresis. In all cases the LDH-4 fraction was found elevated; on the contrary, LDH-2 was reduced. The LDH-5 fraction was detected in only three serums, all of them significantly increased when compared with controls.

A study to find out the in vitro effect of diamino diphenyl sulphone (DDS) on phytohaemagglutinin (PHA)-induced lymphocyte transformation was carried out in three phases using a wide range of DDS concentrations. Lymphocytes from healthy volunteers were investigated. Volunteers were divided into three groups to conduct the study in three phases. In each phase in addition to 0.02 ml of PHA, 4 different concentrations of DDS were added per 10(6) lymphocytes in tissue culture system. A statistically significant depression (P less than 0.05) in the per cent of blast cell formation induced by PHA was observed in the cultures with all the concentrations of DDS except with the lowest concentration (0.01 microgram) of DDS. While the depression observed in the first and the third phase was found to be dose dependent, no significant correlation was noted between the DDS concentration and depression in PHA induced blastogenesis in the second phase. The significance of these observations are discussed.

A comparative study on the Fernandez and on the Mitsuda reaction was made in 104 normal people employing whole and sonicated lepromin. Both types of lepromin can induce a good early reaction, and there was no significant difference in the results of the Fernandez reaction. The sonicated lepromin, though it contains all of the components of the original preparation, gives weaker late skin reactions. The results of the Mitsuda reaction were statistically significant.

The liver function was studied in 100 hanseniasis patients. They were classified in the following 10 groups: quiescent LL (20 patients), quiescent BL (13 patients), quiescent BB (7 patients), quiescent BT (9 patients), quiescent TT (12 patients), reactional LL (12 patients), reactional BL (10 patients), reactional BB (7 patients), reactional BT (5 patients), reactional TT (5 patients); a comparison was made with a control group (10 healthy individuals). It was found a hyperproteinemia with high levels of globulin and normal levels of albumin in the serum of all clinical forms, and a typical pattern of "light damage hepatic cells" with raised in the enzymatic activity of GOT, GPT and alkaline phosphatase with no changes in turbidity tests and bilirrubinemia, in all reactional patients. The physiopathology of this problem and the types III and IV hypersensitivity phenomena are discussed.