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Leprosy in Children

  • Pediatric Infectious Diseases (I Brook, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Infectious Disease Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

This manuscript aims to review the cutting-edge developments regarding to the diagnosis, management, and prevention of leprosy in children.

Recent Findings

Leprosy transmission still occurs continuously in some endemic areas in the world. Leprosy in children below 15 years old is a robust indicator of active source of infection in the community where they live. A special focus on children to reduce disabilities and reduce transmission is one of the core areas of interventions of the global leprosy strategy 2016–2020. Ongoing research is trying to develop better diagnostic tests and to advance chemoprophylaxis and immunoprophylaxis approaches.

Summary

Early diagnosis in children can be hard because of the wide range of clinical aspects of the skin lesions and mainly due to the difficulty of performing the clinical peripheral nerve evaluation. We must maintain leprosy expertise and improve the health professionals training for leprosy diagnosis, since we still have a long journey to reach leprosy elimination.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the following institutions for their support to the authors: CNPQ, CAPES, CAPES PROAMAZONIA, FAPESPA, SESPA, FAEPA-HCFMRP-USP, The Order of Malta (MALTALEP), The New York Community Trust (The Heiser Program for Research in Leprosy) and the J. William Fulbright Scholar to Brazil award.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Spatial Epidemiology Laboratory, Federal University of Pará, Campus Castanhal, Avenida dos Universitários, s/n, Bairro Jaderlândia Castanhal, Pará, CEP: 68746-360, Brazil

    Josafá Gonçalves Barreto

  2. Divison of Dermatology of Internal Medicine, Department of Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes, 3900, Monte Alegre, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, CEP: 14.049.900, Brazil

    Marco Andrey Cipriani Frade & Fred Bernardes Filho

  3. Dermato-Immunology Laboratory, Federal University of Pará, Av. João Paulo II, 113 - Bairro Dom Aristides, Marituba, Pará, CEP: 67200-000, Brazil

    Moises Batista da Silva & Claudio Guedes Salgado

  4. Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, 1682 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1682, USA

    John Stewart Spencer

Authors
  1. Josafá Gonçalves Barreto
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  2. Marco Andrey Cipriani Frade
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  3. Fred Bernardes Filho
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  4. Moises Batista da Silva
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  5. John Stewart Spencer
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  6. Claudio Guedes Salgado
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Josafá Gonçalves Barreto.

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Conflict of Interest

Drs Barreto, Frade, Filho, da Silva, Spencer, and Salgado declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Pediatric Infectious Diseases

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Barreto, J.G., Frade, M.A.C., Bernardes Filho, F. et al. Leprosy in Children. Curr Infect Dis Rep 19, 23 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11908-017-0577-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11908-017-0577-6

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