Utility of Bacillary Index in Slit Skin Smears in Correlation with Clinical and Histopathological Alterations in Hansen's Disease: An Attempt to Revive a Simple Useful Procedure.

Leprosy, a relatively common chronic contagious disease having diverse modes of clinical presentation, can mimic a variety of unrelated diseases. For proper and adequate treatment, the diagnosis must be made accurately with subtyping which should be done with the help of bacillary index, histopathological features, and clinical correlation. This is extremely important in patient care as paucibacillary and multibacillary types have different modes of treatment. Our aim is to categorize leprosy into various types based on bacillary index, morphological findings both in slit skin smears, and biopsy along with clinical correlation.