The use of chart review to elucidate the epidemiology of leprosy in the Mbingo leprosarium of Cameroon

Leprosy in Spain: A Descriptive Study of Admissions at Fontilles Sanatorium between 1909 and 2020

“…The average age at onset of leprosy is consistent with other studies, considering the incubation period of leprosy between 5 and 10 years [2,25,[27][28][29][30][31]34,35,37,41]. The age at onset was similar to other studies and covers a period characterized by an intense social and work life, increasing people´s exposure to the disease [25,30,32,34,36,37]. There were few cases of pediatric patients throughout the studied periods, suggesting a decrease in the transmission of M. leprae over the three periods [2,34,37].…”

“…The vast majority of admissions occurred during periods I and II, which is congruent with the findings of Urbina et al (1997) who conducted a study at the Sanatorium of Trillo (Spain). The decline in patients in period III is consistent with the global decrease in cases due to economic growth and development [8,[35][36][37]40,[43][44][45]. Moreover, the incidence rates steadily declined in Spain after introducing consultation with mobile clinics around 1950, facilitating the on-site treatment of patients living in remote villages, and the introduction of MDT in 1980 [13,37,40,42,46].…”

“…This male predominance could be related to the under-diagnosis of women: their physical examination was less thorough due to cultural customs and limited access to health services [ 2 , 31 ]. However, studies in Africa suggest that women there are more affected by leprosy than men [ 31 , 36 , 37 ]. A higher prevalence of MB patients is also observed by others, even those who believed in an under-diagnosis of MB cases due to a lack of experience among clinicians [ 37 ].…”