ArticlePloS one2021
Latent leprosy infection identified by dual RLEP and anti-PGL-I positivity: Implications for new control strategies.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Serum geoepidemiology of leprosy biomarkers in a city-wide COVID-19 survey in Brazil.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Spatial, Social and Serological Factors in the Prevalence and Risk of Leprosy in Areas of High Endemicity: An Integrative Review.Infectious disease reports · 2025Review
- Molecular Detection ofTropical medicine and infectious disease · 2025Review
- Leprosy in the 21st century: a comprehensive review of immunological mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment.Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo · 2025Review
- MicroRNA biomarkers in leprosy: insights from the Northern Brazilian Amazon population and their implications in disease immune-physiopathology.Frontiers in genetics · 2024Article
- qPCR detection ofFrontiers in molecular biosciences · 2024Article
- Whole mitogenome sequencing uncovers a relation between mitochondrial heteroplasmy and leprosy severity.Human genomics · 2023Article
- The Many Hosts of Mycobacteria 9 (MHM9): A conference report.Tuberculosis (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2023Article
- Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid-Derived Lipid Mediators as Potential Biomarkers for Leprosy Among Individuals with AsymptomaticACS infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Leprosy among children in an area without primary health care coverage in Caratateua Island, Brazilian Amazon.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Specialized active leprosy search strategies in an endemic area of the Brazilian Amazon identifies a hypermutatedFrontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- ELISA Test Based on the Phenolic Glycolipid-I (PGL-I) ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Bacilloscopy and polymerase chain reaction of slit-skin smears and anti-phenolic glycolipid-I serology for Hansen's disease diagnosis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Serological Immunoassay for Hansen's Disease Diagnosis and Monitoring Treatment: Anti-Mce1A Antibody Response Among Hansen's Disease Patients and Their Household Contacts in Northeastern Brazil.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Modulation of the Response toFrontiers in microbiology · 2022Review
- Innovative tracking, active search and follow-up strategies for new leprosy cases in the female prison population.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Article
- Laboratory and functional tests in leprosy diagnosis: a practical guide for clinical decision-making.Anais brasileiros de dermatologiaReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The number of new cases of leprosy reported worldwide has remained essentially unchanged for the last decade despite continued global use of free multidrug therapy (MDT) provided to any diagnosed leprosy patient. In order to more effectively interrupt the chain of transmission, new strategies will be required to detect those with latent disease who contribute to furthering transmission. To improve the ability to diagnose leprosy earlier in asymptomatic infected individuals, we examined the combined use of two well-known biomarkers of M. leprae infection, namely the presence of M. leprae DNA by PCR from earlobe slit skin smears (SSS) and positive antibody titers to the M. leprae-specific antigen, Phenolic Glycolipid I (anti-PGL-I) from leprosy patients and household contacts living in seven hyperendemic cities in the northern state of Pará, Brazilian Amazon. Combining both tests increased sensitivity, specificity and accuracy over either test alone. A total of 466 individuals were evaluated, including 87 newly diagnosed leprosy patients, 52 post-treated patients, 296 household contacts and 31 healthy endemic controls. The highest frequency of double positives (PGL-I+/RLEP+) were detected in the new case group (40/87, 46%) with lower numbers for treated (12/52, 23.1%), household contacts (46/296, 15.5%) and healthy endemic controls (0/31, 0%). The frequencies in these groups were reversed for double negatives (PGL-I-/RLEP-) for new cases (6/87, 6.9%), treated leprosy cases (15/52, 28.8%) and the highest in household contacts (108/296, 36.5%) and healthy endemic controls (24/31, 77.4%). The data strongly suggest that household contacts that are double positive have latent disease, are likely contributing to shedding and transmission of disease to their close contacts and are at the highest risk of progressing to clinical disease. Proposed strategies to reduce leprosy transmission in highly endemic areas may include chemoprophylactic treatment of this group of individuals to stop the spread of bacilli to eventually lower new case detection rates in these areas.
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