Leprosy without typical skin involvement but with concurrent tuberculosis: a case report

Leprosy is characterized by skin lesions and peripheral nerve damage. It may take a long time before the diagnosis can be confirmed if the patients have no typical skin involvements. Here we report an unusual case. A 40-year-old male with lepromatous leprosy showed a gradual onset of bilateral symmetrical neuropathies without characteristic skin manifestations seven years after onset and with pulmonary tuberculosis simultaneously. He was misdiagnosed as having Guillani-Barré syndrome and systemic necrotizing vasculitis for 10 years until the skin biopsy was performed. This case indicates that the risk of leprosy exists, though new cases being detected have significantly declined over the last 50 years; neurologists need to pay more attention to leprosy with various manifestations.