01700nas a2200253   4500000000100000008004100001653003300042653001000075653001200085653001300097100001500110700001400125700001700139700001500156700001400171700001400185700001300199700001300212245018600225856008700411300001100498490000700509520093000516       2014                            d10aContacts of leprosy patients10aIndia10aleprosy10aM.leprae1 aTurankar R1 aLavania M1 aChaitanya SV1 aSengupta U1 aDarlong J1 aDarlong F1 aK.S R SS1 aJadhav R00aSingle nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) based molecular typing of M.leprae from multi-case families of leprosy patients and their surroundings to understand the transmission of leprosy  uhttps://www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/article/S1198-743X(14)60846-6/pdf  a142-490 v203 a<p>Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It is one of the oldest recorded diseases of mankind. The changes in the registry pattern after the implementation of MDT in the vertical program has drastically brought down the prevalence (PR) whereas the incidence has not come down at many places of the world [1] including India [2] wherein the prevalence of &lt;1/10,000 has been attained. A total of 11 districts with incidence rate &gt; 50/100,000 population still exist in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Dadra &amp; Nagar Haveli, Orissa and Delhi [2]. The global use of MDT seems to have had only minimal, if any, effect on transmission of the disease [3] and an adequate explanation for this situation is lacking. Multibacillary (MB) leprosy patients harbor enormous number of leprosy bacilli and discharge them freely from their skin, nasal ulcers and saliva [4, 5].</p>