Abstract

CORTES, Jorge Alberto; BOTERO, Claudia Pilar  and  RODRIGUEZ, Gerzaín. Lepra en el anciano[title] [title language=en]Leprosy among aged patients. Infect. [online]. 2008, vol.12, n.4, pp.240-245. ISSN 0123-9392.

Objective. To evaluate the clinical and epidemiological features of patients older than 60 years of age, with histologically proven leprosy at the InstitutoNacional de Salud de Colombia, in a period of 13 years. Materials and methods. A retrospective study was carried out including patients whose biopsy was submittted to the InstitutoNacional de Salud (Bogotá, Colombia) for histological confirmation and whose age were more than 60 year old, between January 1990 and December 2002. Results. Between January 1990 and December 2002, 2,462 patients with leprosy were histologically confirmed at the InstitutoNacional de Salud. 433 (17.6%) were over 60 years of age (range, 60 to 94). 51% of the patients had a multibacillary leprosy. Clinical features were similar to those reported for other age groups. Median evolution time was less than a year in 48,8% of the patients. A reactional state was found in 10% of the patients. Known leprosy contacts were reported in 7% of the cases. A relapse was diagnosed in 9% of the patients. Discussion El 17.6% of the patients evaluated at the InstitutoNacional de Salud were older than 60 years and presented with multibacillary infection. In this aged population, leprosy could represent a great burden of morbidity and important foci of dissemination if not diagnosed on time.

Keywords : Leprosy; Elderly; Biopsy.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )