ReviewPLoS neglected tropical diseases2014
On the age of leprosy.
Review in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 75 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mycobacterium leprae infection, Hansen's disease, and helminth infections: A cross-sectional study in southeastern Brazil.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Identification of Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis Cases with Broad-Range Molecular Assays at a Single Large Reference Laboratory.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2026Article
- Peripheral nerve biopsy in pure neural leprosy: a 26-year experience in Brazil.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Canonical fact versus hypothesis testing to decipher transmission of non-tuberculous and tuberculous mycobacteria: a comparative review.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Palaeopathology in Mortuary Art: The Sepulchre of San Pedro de Osma in the Cathedral of Burgo de Osma, Thirteenth Century, Soria, Spain.Journal of religion and health · 2025Article
- Lepromatous leprosy in Bronze Age Oman: micro-CT provides tools for paleopathology in fragmentary and commingled assemblages.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Leprosy.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2024Review
- Molecular and Serological Surveillance forAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Article
- Review
- Burden of leprosy and associated risk factors for disabilities in Tanzania from 2017 to 2020.PloS one · 2024Article
- Artificial Intelligence on Diagnostic Aid of Leprosy: A Systematic Literature Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Construction and Analysis of the Complete Genome Sequence of Leprosy Agent Mycobacterium lepromatosis.Microbiology spectrum · 2022Article
- Genetic polymorphisms of toll-like receptors in leprosy patients from southern Brazil.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Article
- Internal Migration and Leprosy in Shanghai from 2000 to 2019: an Epidemiological Study of New Cases.Acta dermato-venereologica · 2021Article
- Knowledge, attitude, and health seeking behavior on leprosy among urban adults in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu: A Community-based cross-sectional study.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2021Article
- Massively Parallel Sequencingof the Filaggrin Gene Reveals an Association Between FLG Loss-of-function Mutations and Leprosy.Acta dermato-venereologica · 2020Article
- Genomic Characterization ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2020Article
- Advances in the Immunology and Genetics of Leprosy.Frontiers in immunology · 2020Review
- The impact of KIR/HLA genes on the risk of developing multibacillary leprosy.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Leprosy is a chronic infection of the skin and nerves caused by Mycobacterium leprae and the newly discovered Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Human leprosy has been documented for millennia in ancient cultures. Recent genomic studies of worldwide M. leprae strains have further traced it along global human dispersals during the past ∼ 100,000 years. Because leprosy bacilli are strictly intracellular, we wonder how long humans have been affected by this disease-causing parasite. Based on recently published data on M. leprae genomes, M. lepromatosis discovery, leprosy bacilli evolution, and human evolution, it is most likely that the leprosy bacilli started parasitic evolution in humans or early hominids millions of years ago. This makes leprosy the oldest human-specific infection. The unique adaptive evolution has likely molded the indolent growth and evasion from human immune defense that may explain leprosy pathogenesis. Accordingly, leprosy can be viewed as a natural consequence of a long parasitism. The burden of leprosy may have affected minor selection on human genetic polymorphisms.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.