Leprosy as a clinical correlation of anatomy

Abstract

Leprosy is a chronic mycobacterial infection of superficial tissues which occurs in part because of a select immune incompetence in certain individuals. The major debilitating effects of the disease are the result of neurological deficits secondary to infiltration of Schwann cells by M. leprae and resorption of phalanges and bone near the palate. An understanding of the manifestations of the disease is based upon anatomical principles. We illustrate some of these in several clinical correlations. o