A CLASSIFICATION OF LEPROSY FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES
1962; British Leprosy Relief Association; Volume: 33; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.5935/0305-7518.19620014
ISSN2162-8807
Autores Tópico(s)Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology
ResumoAccepted systems of classifying leprosy, being based on the need to achieve the widest •possible agreement and to serve a variety of purposes, do not provide the detail which is sometimes desired for research.This paper has the limited object of describing a classifi cation which has been adopted fo r certain therapeutic trials and other projects.The scheme contains few important departures from accepted ideas.Jt was assumed that, underlying the various differences between tuberculoid and lepromatous leprosy, the question of resistance by patient to infection was fu ndamental .The object of classification was to assess prognosis and expected response to treatment, which depend to a considerable extent on a patient's resistance.It was assumed further that every degree of resistance may on occasion be encountered ; but fo r convenience an attempt was made to define 5 grades or groups by reference to the clInical, histological, bacterio logical and immunological patterns which have been fo und by experience to have a bearing on a patient's resistance and prognosis.The proced ure therefore was tQ construct a skeleton scheme of classification in 5 groups (Table I), the two "poles" of which were tuberculoid and lepromatous defined by the strictest orthodox criteria ; and subsequently to determine the characteristics of the intervening groups by correlating various characteristics with the outcome of a fo llow-up study after treatment.
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