Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

G Ramu

Publications and source records attributed to G Ramu.

157 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Chest infection due to M. fortuitum in a case of lepromatous leprosy--a case report.

Lepromatous leprosy cases may be immunocompromised due to the extensive disease and also because of steroid therapy for repeated reactions. Such patients are likely to be at higher risk for getting opportunistic infection due to various environmental microbes. This paper reports a case of lepromatous leprosy with repeated lepra reaction who was found to have chest infection due to M. fortuitum. It is suggested that mycobacterial culture and sensitivity should be recommended in cases who are immunocompromised and whose pathological specimens contain acid fast bacilli. Species identification and sensitivity can be very helpful in proper management of such cases who will otherwise pass off as tuberculosis.

Drug Resistance, Microbial↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of leprosy sera and foetal calf serum (FCS) on the T cell number of peripheral blood of leprosy patients.

Study was conducted in 24 cases of various types of leprosy and 10 healthy controls to find out the effect of various sera on the T cell count of peripheral blood lymphocytes by sheep erythrocyte rosetting method. The percentage of T lymphocytes in lepromatous and tuberculoid cases were significantly lower compared to that in normal healthy controls. All sera except FCS had a stimulatory effect on the number of T cells. The cells incubated for 24 hours in FCS did not show any stimulatory effect on the number of T cells, however, these FCS incubated cells showed a significant elevation in the number of T cells when further incubated in sera either from leprosy cases or from healthy subjects.

Culture Media↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluation of standard Dharmendra lepromin.

Dharmendra lepromin standardized at Central JALMA Institute for Leprosy (CJIL) by bacterial counts was used by different observers in four different Centres to assess the early and late reactions. Patients taken into the study were from different ethnic groups in different regions of the country. Comparable skin reactions were found at the Bombay Leprosy Project (BLP), Bombay and at the CJIL, Agra wherein a large number of patients were taken in the study. Similarly, when a smaller number of patients were taken in the study at the Base Hospital (BH), Barrackpore, and at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, the skin reactions noted in patients at these Centres were again found to be statistically comparable.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Dermatoglyphics in leprosy (I. Finger patterns).

Finger dermatoglyphic patterns were studied in leprosy families selecting patients and controls from each family. A total of 100 leprosy cases (50 of TT/BT types and 50 of BL/LL types) and 100 control subjects were investigated. While a statistically significant association was noted with some finger patterns (loop ulnar, loop radial, loop twin and loop central pocket) in the lepromatous type, no such association was observed with the finger patterns in the tuberculoid type.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Clinical features and diagnosis of relapses in leprosy.

1. The definition of relapse as "occurrence of new signs and symptoms of the disease during the period of surveillance or thereafter in a patient who successfully completes an adequate course of multidrug therapy" accommodates the current policy of releasing patients even when there are clinical and bacteriological signs of activity after fixed duration treatment. 2. The predisposing cause of relapse in the persistence of live M. leprae in various tissues in MB leprosy and in the nerve in PB leprosy. 3. The precipitating causes of relapse include (a) inadequate therapy due to miscategorization of MB cases as PB when there are solitary or few MB lesions since skin smear examinations for AFB are not routinely done in PB cases. (b) Previously sulphone treated LL cases inactive for more than two years are not included for MDT. Relapses commonly seen in NLEP units are in such cases. (c) Multiple skin and nerve lesions in PB leprosy. (d) Pregnancy and lactation. (e) Mental depression which downgrades immunity. (f) HIV infection. 4. There may be a change in type on relapsing, PB cases relapsing as MB and MB cases relapsing as PB. 5. Criteria for diagnosis of relapse are: increase in the extent of lesions, infiltration and erythema, fresh skin and nerve lesions, positive skin smears for AFB in previously negative cases; and in bacteriologically positive cases during surveillance, an increase in BI by two logs at any site over the previous BI in two successive examinations. 6. Relapses are but too often diagnosed as reversal reactions inspite of the absence of symptoms and signs of acute inflammation to the detriment of patients; a course of steroid therapy which is administered to these patients on the diagnosis of reversal reaction does not halt the progress of the disease especially in the nerve, resulting in disability.

Causality↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sample survey of leprosy after three years of MDT in Bhavani taluk of Periyar District, Tamilnadu.

A sample survey of Bhavani taluk was undertaken in March 1992 three years after the introduction of MDT. Ten percent of the population was taken for the sample. A population of 45,781 was enumerated and 41,554 was examined. The three sectors were stratified according to the prevalence rate and classifying the villages by the size of the population. Villages were selected by random sampling. The sample survey detected 288 new cases of leprosy of which 16 (5.55%) were bacteriologically positive for acid-fast bacilli. The child rate was 13.54% among new cases. According to the sample survey the current prevalence rate per 1000 population was 9.07 (with a new case detection rate of 6.93/1000 population), much higher than that derived from programme data (prevalence rate 3.45) and the expected ten fold reduction of prevalence under MDT. Independent sample surveys of NLEP units after three to five years of implementation of MDT will help to assess deficiencies in the programme and enable us to take remedial measures.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Histological and immunological correlates of suspected leprosy lesions.

Thirty-two subjects with suspected leprosy lesions were investigated to assess various modalities of sensibility and sweat function and these were correlated with immunological and histological parameters. It was found that pain and temperature, mediated by small unmyelinated fibres were impaired in the early lesions. Impairment of sweat function was seen only when one of the modalities of sensibility was also affected. Antibodies specific to a protein (35 kDa) antigen and phenolic glycolipid 1 of Mycobacterium leprae were positive in nine and 12 cases respectively, while 15 of the 31 biopsies revealed the presence of mycobacterial antigens in these lesions. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A sequential study of circulating immune complexes, complement and immunoglobulins in borderline tuberculoid leprosy patients with and without reactions.

Sequential estimates of the levels of circulating immune complexes (CIC), complement catabolic fragment C3d, complement-mediated immune complex solubilization (CMS) and immunoglobulins were made in 24 newly diagnosed with borderline tuberculoid leprosy over a 20 month period after initiation of chemotherapy. Fourteen of these patients had not suffered from reversal reactions either at the time of presentation or during the follow-up. The levels of CIC were evaluated in them from the third to the eleventh month after starting chemotherapy and immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels were evaluated up to eight months. The concentrations of C3d and immunoglobulins A (IgA) and M (IgM) were normal in these patients. The other ten patients had reversal reaction at the time of diagnosis which subsided by the third month after starting treatment. They did not have reversal reactions later. The levels of CIC and IgG were elevated and those of CMS were depressed throughout the study period. Serum C3d level was initially elevated but came down to normal by the third month while IgA and IgM levels were within normal limits. The relevance of these findings to the genesis of reversal reaction is discussed in this communication.

Adult↗