ReviewPLoS neglected tropical diseases2014
PCR-based techniques for leprosy diagnosis: from the laboratory to the clinic.
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 59 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
59 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 147 citations in OpenAlex.
- Self-healing in leprosy: A systematic review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Pooled it
- Comparative analysis of the leprosy detection rate regarding its clinical spectrum through PCR using theFrontiers in microbiology · 2024Pooled it
- Assessment of Antimicrobial Resistance in M. leprae Strains From Kiribati.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2026Article
- Biosensor-Based Platforms for the Detection and Screening ofACS infectious diseases · 2026Review
- Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase: A Potential Biomarker for Neural Damage Severity of Leprosy Neuropathy.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Hansen's disease patient in Ohio successfully treated with a monthly rifampin, minocycline, and moxifloxacin regimen: a case report.ASM case reports · 2025Article
- Molecular Detection ofTropical medicine and infectious disease · 2025Review
- Multimodal approach to the diagnosis of pure neural neuropathy in leprosy.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Leprosy: a disease that has never gone away.Infectious diseases & immunity · 2025Article
- Unraveling Drug Resistance inInternational journal of microbiology · 2025Review
- Slit skin smear versus anti-phenolic glycolipid-I serology in diagnosis of leprosy: a cross sectional study.Archives of dermatological research · 2024Article
- Validation of the performance of a point of care molecular test for leprosy: From a simplified DNA extraction protocol to a portable qPCR.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Role of histopathological, serological and molecular findings for the early diagnosis of treatment failure in leprosy.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Human Skin as an Ex Vivo Model for MaintainingTropical medicine and infectious disease · 2024Article
- Neurological features of Hansen disease: a retrospective, multicenter cohort study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Concordance of Acid-Fast Stain Result and Histopathologic vs Clinical Diagnosis of Leprosy: A Three-year Retrospective Study in a Tertiary Government Hospital and Sanitarium in the Philippines.Acta medica Philippina · 2024Article
- qPCR detection ofFrontiers in molecular biosciences · 2024Article
- Artificial Intelligence on Diagnostic Aid of Leprosy: A Systematic Literature Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Diagnosis and Treatment of Leprosy in Taiwan during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Study in a Tertiaty Center.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In leprosy, classic diagnostic tools based on bacillary counts and histopathology have been facing hurdles, especially in distinguishing latent infection from active disease and diagnosing paucibacillary clinical forms. Serological tests and IFN-gamma releasing assays (IGRA) that employ humoral and cellular immune parameters, respectively, are also being used, but recent results indicate that quantitative PCR (qPCR) is a key technique due to its higher sensitivity and specificity. In fact, advances concerning the structure and function of the Mycobacterium leprae genome led to the development of specific PCR-based gene amplification assays for leprosy diagnosis and monitoring of household contacts. Also, based on the validation of point-of-care technologies for M. tuberculosis DNA detection, it is clear that the same advantages of rapid DNA detection could be observed in respect to leprosy. So far, PCR has proven useful in the determination of transmission routes, M. leprae viability, and drug resistance in leprosy. However, PCR has been ascertained to be especially valuable in diagnosing difficult cases like pure neural leprosy (PNL), paucibacillary (PB), and patients with atypical clinical presentation and histopathological features compatible with leprosy. Also, the detection of M. leprae DNA in different samples of the household contacts of leprosy patients is very promising. Although a positive PCR result is not sufficient to establish a causal relationship with disease outcome, quantitation provided by qPCR is clearly capable of indicating increased risk of developing the disease and could alert clinicians to follow these contacts more closely or even define rules for chemoprophylaxis.
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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.