Childhood Leprosy: A Prospective Observational Study from a Tertiary Care Centre of Chhattisgarh

Childhood leprosy serves as a valuable indicator of transmission of leprosy in an area. This was a prospective observational study conducted from February 2022 to January 2024 in the Department of Dermatology Venereology and Leprosy (DVL) of Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences, a tertiary care centre of Chhattisgarh. Of the 993 new cases of leprosy seen during this period, 51 (5.13%) were of childhood leprosy in the age group 0–14 years. All these cases were characterized by clinical parameters and bacteriological status, their demographic and social details recorded. Most of these patients 34 (66.66%) belonged to 11–14 years age group, there was no child case less than 5 years of age. The male/female proportion was nearly equal. There were 26 paucibacillary cases (50.98%) and 25 multibacillary cases (49.01%). Single skin lesion was the most common presentation, observed in 43.13% of cases. Fourteen cases (27.45%) had more than 5 skin patchy lesions, followed by 2–5 skin lesions in 5 cases (9.8%) whereas there were 7 cases (13.7%) of nodular LL. Pure neuritic leprosy (PNL) was found in 5.8% of cases. 66.66% presented with borderline tuberculoid clinical type of leprosy. Slit skin smear positivity was observed in 19.6% of cases. Only 28/51 (54.9%) of these cases sought treatment within 1-6 months whereas 10/51 came between 7-12 months of appearance of signs/symptoms of the disease. 12 cases (23.52%) presented between 1-5 years of disease. Three cases presented with physical deformities. In 32 cases (62.74%), a history of contact with parents and siblings was there. The majority 49 (96.07%) belonged to the lower socio-economic strata, residing in rural areas 38 (74.50%) with overcrowding in 38 (74.50%) in their homes. The findings from this study can provide valuable insights for planning research cum intervention in the community for managing leprosy in general and childhood leprosy in particular in this area of Chhattisgarh.