Title
Leprosy Transmission in Amazonian Countries: Current Status and Future Trends
Date Issued
01 September 2020
Access level
open access
Resource Type
review
Author(s)
Schaub R.
Avanzi C.
Singh P.
Paniz-Mondolfi A.
Cardona-Castro N.
Crespo L.
Sewpersad K.
Dávila J.J.
Barreto J.
Dwivedi P.
Morris-Wilson H.
Larrea M.P.
Talhari C.
Lahiri R.
Truman R.W.
Gozlan R.E.
Couppié P.
de Thoisy B.
Publisher(s)
Springer Nature
Abstract
Purpose of Review: Leprosy is one of the first pathologies described in the history of mankind. However, the ecology, transmission, and pathogenicity of the incriminated bacilli remain poorly understood. Despite effective treatment freely distributed worldwide since 1995, around 200,000 new cases continue to be detected yearly, mostly in the tropics. This review aims to discuss the unique characteristics of leprosy in Amazonian countries, which exhibit a very heterogeneous prevalence among human and animal reservoirs. Recent Findings: Groundbreaking discoveries made in the last 15 years have challenged the dogmas about leprosy reservoirs, transmission, and treatment. The discovery of a new leprosy causative agent in 2008 and the scientific proof of zoonosis transmission of leprosy by nine-banded armadillos in the southern USA in 2011 challenged the prospects of leprosy eradication. In the Amazonian biome, nine-banded and other armadillo species are present but the lack of large-scale studies does not yet allow accurate assessment of the zoonotic risk. Brazil is the second country in the world reporting the highest number of new leprosy cases annually. The disease is also present, albeit with different rates, in all neighboring countries. Throughout the Amazonian biome, leprosy is mainly found in hyperendemic foci, conducive to the emergence and transmission of drug-resistant strains. Summary: The deepening of current knowledge on leprosy reservoirs, transmission, and therapeutic issues, with the One Health approach and the help of molecular biology, will allow a better understanding and management of the public health issues and challenges related to leprosy in Amazonia.
Start page
79
End page
91
Volume
7
Issue
3
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Biología celular, Microbiología
Métodos de investigación bioquímica
Epidemiología
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85085393437
Source
Current Tropical Medicine Reports
ISSN of the container
2196-3045
Sponsor(s)
This work was funded by the European Funds for Regional Development (Feder), No. SYNERGIE GY0012083, the RESERVOIRS project (Synergie GY0009430), and the MicroBIOME project granted by Laboratoire d’Excellence CEBA “Investissement d’Avenir” and managed by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (CEBA, Ref. ANR-10-LABEX-25-01). This work was also supported by the Heiser Program of the New York Community Trust for Research in Leprosy grant number P18-000250 (CA and JB), the Association de Chimiothérapie Anti-Infectieuse of the Société Française de Microbiologie (CA), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant no. 845479 (CA), a non-stipendiary European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) long-term fellowship grant number ALTF 1086-2018 (CA), the Q.M. Gastmann-Wichers Foundation, and the R2STOP Research grant from effect::hope Canada and The Mission to End Leprosy, Ireland (PS), Leprosy Research Initiative Netherlands (PS). Acknowledgments
We thank Mariella Superina, Toine Pieters, Henk Menke, and Telesphor Abga for additional information, Isabelle Roger and Agathe Chavy for helpful advice, and He?di Lan?on for the English revision of the manuscript.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus