Initial Diagnosis of Leprosy in Patients Treated by an Ophthalmologist and Confirmation by Conventional Analysis and Polymerase Chain Reaction

The diagnosis of leprosy relies on the clinical symptom complex, epidemiologic factors, and demonstration of acid-fast bacilli in the tissue sample. Considering that the global leprosy population is 12 million, a patient with leprosy may be found anywhere. The ophthalmologist may be the first one to encounter such patient, in which case suspicion and detection of ocular findings may lead to early treatment of the infection. Polymerase chain reaction may be a new tool in the definite diagnosis of leprosy when suspicion of the diseases is raised by clinicohistopathologic studies.