SynthesisPLoS neglected tropical diseases2021
Detection of anti-M. leprae antibodies in children in leprosy-endemic areas: A systematic review.
Synthesis in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Seroprevalence ofThe Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2026Article
- Participatory construction of an assistive technology for leprosy contact surveillance.Revista brasileira de enfermagem · 2025Article
- Large-scale field application of a fingerstick blood test for Mycobacterium leprae infection: Monitoring population-wide effects of case finding and post-exposure prophylaxis on transmission in the Comoros and Madagascar.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Rapid test for Mycobacterium leprae infection: a practical tool for leprosy.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2024Article
- Leprosy.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2024Review
- Target product profiles: leprosy diagnostics.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2024Article
- Challenges and advances in serological and molecular tests to aid leprosy diagnosis.Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.) · 2023Review
- Field-friendly anti-PGL-I serosurvey in children to monitorFrontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Serological testing for Hansen's disease diagnosis: Clinical significance and performance of IgA, IgM, and IgG antibodies against Mce1A protein.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Bacilloscopy and polymerase chain reaction of slit-skin smears and anti-phenolic glycolipid-I serology for Hansen's disease diagnosis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Detection and Monitoring ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLeprosy elimination primarily targets transmission of Mycobacterium leprae which is not restricted to patients' households. As interruption of transmission is imminent in many countries, a test to detect infected asymptomatic individuals who can perpetuate transmission is required. Antibodies directed against M. leprae antigens are indicative of M. leprae infection but cannot discriminate between active and past infection. Seroprevalence in young children, however, reflects recent M. leprae infection and may thus be used to monitor transmission in an area. Therefore, this literature review aimed to evaluate what has been reported on serological tests measuring anti-M. leprae antibodies in children without leprosy below the age of 15 in leprosy-endemic areas. METHODS AND
findingsA literature search was performed in the databases Pubmed, Infolep, Web of Science and The Virtual Health Library. From the 724 articles identified through the search criteria, 28 full-text articles fulfilled all inclusion criteria. Two additional papers were identified through snowballing, resulting in a total of 30 articles reporting data from ten countries. All serological tests measured antibodies against phenolic glycolipid-I or synthetic derivatives thereof, either quantitatively (ELISA or UCP-LFA) or qualitatively (ML-flow or NDO-LID rapid test). The median seroprevalence in children in endemic areas was 14.9% and was stable over time if disease incidence remained unchanged. Importantly, seroprevalence decreased with age, indicating that children are a suitable group for sensitive assessment of recent M. leprae infection. However, direct comparison between areas, solely based on the data reported in these studies, was impeded by the use of different tests and variable cut-off levels.
conclusionsQuantitative anti-PGL-I serology in young children holds promise as a screening test to assess M. leprae infection and may be applied as a proxy for transmission and thereby as a means to monitor the effect of (prophylactic) interventions on the route to leprosy elimination.
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