Case Study - Leprosy

Abstract

We present the case of a 26 year old Indian base worker who attended the Role 2 enhanced hospital in Iraq with a case of leprosy. The patient presented four times over a 12 month period with non-specific pain in the right hand and forearm combined with a large lesion of dry skin and reduced sensation in the forearm. A clinical diagnosis of leprosy was made, which was subsequently confirmed as paucibacillary leprosy by skin smears sent to the UK. It was not possible to treat the patient locally and a recommendation made to the patient’s employer that the patient return to India to commence treatment.

Leprosy: what is new

“…Leprosy commonly is first evident with loss of sensation in patches of hypopigmented or erythematous skin. It can progress from subtle findings such as loss of lateral eyebrows, palpable greater auricular nerve, and depigmented spots to saddle nose deformity, irreparable neuropathy, and more 4 . Patients are classified by the Ridley‐Joplin score and by the World Health Organization (WHO) field classification.…”