Erratum
ERRATUM: Two abstracts were inadvertently reversed in the Current Literature section of the December issue of 2002 (Vol 70.4), those of Li, et al. (p. 279) and Srivisna, et al. (p. 288). The correct abstracts are:
P. 279:
Huan-Ying, L., Shun-Peng, R., and Rong-De, Y. Leprosy control in a prefecture of Yunnan Province in the Peoples' Republic of China, using intensive health education of the public and primary health care workers for the detection of cases, 1998-1999. Lepr. Rev. Mar. 73(1) (2002) 84-87.
With the lead of the Wenshan Prefecture Bureau of Public health, the Perfecture Institute of Dermatology, together with the eight county Skin Disease Control Stations, have conducted intensive health education to encourage community participation and training of primary health workers for early case detection. After 10 days of Action in each of the 7 townships from 5 counties, 116 new leprosy patients were detected, which is 4.8 times more than the previous 5-years annual average (24.4 patients/yr) in these 7 townships. The criteria for early leprosy detection were also significantly improved, namely: child rate x 2.8 (40 versus 15), illness < 1 yr x 1.3 (66 versus 55), single lesion cases x 5.1 (53 versus 11), and paucibacillary leprosy x 2 (93 versus 49). There was also a decrease in patients with deformity x 2.3 (12 versus 28). Confirmation of diagnosis of suspected early lesions was supplemented by immuno-histopathology with PGL-monoclonal antibody and rabbit anti-s-100 protein. The health education program generated considerable public interest ad the primary health workers considered that addition of MDT service will not be an extra burden to their daily routine.-Authors' Abstract
P. 288:
Srinivas, D., Rao, P. N., Lakshmi, T. S. S., and Suneetha, S. Bacterial index of granuloma and its relevance compared to BI of skin smears. Lepr. Rev. 73(1) (2002) 79-80.
Between January and December 1998, the bacterial indices (BI) of slit skin smears (SSS) were compared with the bacterial indices of granuloma (BIG) of skin biopsies of 108 leprosy patients (80 men and 28 women) from the Department of Dematology, Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad, India. SSS were positive for acid fast bacilli (AFB) in 23 of 108 patients (21%). The highest BI value was 4+ in six patients. When BIG were studied, AFB were observed in 42 of 108 (38.8%) specimens. 22 of 23 skin smear positive cases were also positive for BIG. In contrast, skin smears were negative in 20 of 42 patients who were BIG positive. The difference between values of BIG and BI of SSS was highly significant (p <0.005). BIG of skin biopsies have shown uniformly higher values compared with skin smears in all types of leprosy except in one patient. Moreover, in patients with BIG values of 4+ of more, SSS were positive for AFB in 72% of cases compared with only 23% of SSS positivity in patients with BIG values less than 4+ (p <0.001).-Trop. Dis. Bull.