ArticleThe Brazilian journal of infectious diseases : an official publication of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases
Hidden leprosy in a low-endemic area in southern Brazil: changes in endemicity following an active search.
Article in The Brazilian journal of infectious diseases : an official publication of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Serum geoepidemiology of leprosy biomarkers in a city-wide COVID-19 survey in Brazil.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Development and validation of a machine learning approach for screening new leprosy cases based on the leprosy suspicion questionnaire.Scientific reports · 2025Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundLeprosy, a neglected tropical disease, is reported in over 120 countries, with upwards of 200,000 new cases annually. This Cross-Sectional Cohort Study aimed to delineate the epidemiological profile of leprosy in a low-endemic area in southern Brazil, both before and after implementing an active search strategy.
methodsThe study examined two surveillance periods in Caçador, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The active search strategy was carried out through the application of the LSQ by the community health workers as a screening and detection tool for new cases of leprosy and this was compared with passive case detection. The first spanned from 2014 to 2020, and the second from January 2021 to August 2023.
findings48 leprosy cases were reported throughout the study, 83.3 % of which were diagnosed as multibacillary. The first period had an average detection rate of 0.38 cases per 10,000 inhabitants, increasing to 1.19 cases per 10,000 inhabitants in the second period. Notably, there was a substantial shift in the degree of physical disability (GD), with more Grade 0 and Grade 1 disabilities observed post-active search. MAIN
conclusionsThe study underscores the efficacy of active search strategies in early diagnosis, highlighting a 300 % increase in the annual average of diagnosed cases. This large number of detected cases demonstrates the high sensitivity of the LSQ. This approach significantly aids in uncovering hidden cases of leprosy, enhancing disease management and control in low-endemic areas indicating that the Ministry of Health should intensify leprosy control activities in these regions.
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