{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T22:00:38Z","timestamp":1785794438984,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene","issue":"2","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT.<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>In leprosy, early diagnosis is crucial to prevent transmission and onset of disabilities of the disease. The purpose of this study was to determine usefulness of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in clinically diagnosed cases of leprosy. Thirty-two leprosy cases were included. The real-time PCR was performed using commercial kit targeting <jats:italic>Mycobacterium leprae<\/jats:italic>\u2013specific insertion sequence element. The slit skin smear was positive in two (22.2%) borderline tuberculoid (BT) patients, five (83.3%) borderline lepromatous (BL) patients, and seven (50%) lepromatous leprosy (LL). The positivity of quantitative real-time PCR in BT, BL, LL, and pure neuritic leprosy were 77.8%, 83.3%, 100%, and 33.3%, respectively. Using histopathology as the gold standard, sensitivity of quantitative real-time PCR was 93.1%, and specificity was 100%. The DNA load was higher in LL (3,854.29\/10<jats:sup>6<\/jats:sup> cells), followed by BL (140.37\/10<jats:sup>6<\/jats:sup> cells), and BT (2.69\/10<jats:sup>6<\/jats:sup> cells). Because of the high sensitivity and specificity of real-time PCR, our study strongly suggests the use of real-time PCR as a diagnostic tool for leprosy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.22-0751","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,20]],"date-time":"2023-06-20T13:43:28Z","timestamp":1687268608000},"page":"345-349","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction for Detection of Mycobacterium leprae DNA in Tissue Specimens from Patients with Leprosy"],"prefix":"10.4269","volume":"109","author":[{"given":"Indukumari M.","family":"Sarath","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, Puducherry, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Noyal Mariya","family":"Joseph","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, Puducherry, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Imola","family":"Jamir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, Puducherry, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2795","reference":[{"key":"b1","series-title":"Indian Dermatol Online J","first-page":"83","article-title":"Current situation of leprosy in India and its future implications","volume":"9","author":"Rao","year":"2018"},{"key":"b2","series-title":"National Leprosy Eradication Programme Annual Report 2015\u20132016","year":"2016"},{"key":"b3","series-title":"National Leprosy Eradication Programme Annual Report 2016\u20132017","year":"2017"},{"key":"b4","series-title":"J Clin Microbiol","first-page":"3154","article-title":"Evaluation of real-time and conventional PCR targeting complex 85 genes for detection of Mycobacterium leprae DNA in skin biopsy samples from patients diagnosed with leprosy","volume":"44","author":"Martinez","year":"2006"},{"key":"b5","series-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis","first-page":"e328","article-title":"Enumeration of Mycobacterium leprae using real-time PCR","volume":"2","author":"Truman","year":"2008"},{"key":"b6","series-title":"Int J Dermatol","first-page":"1492","article-title":"A study on gender differences in newly detected leprosy cases in Sichuan, China, 2000\u20132015","volume":"57","author":"Liu","year":"2018"},{"key":"b7","series-title":"BMJ Open","first-page":"e001403","article-title":"Six months fixed duration multidrug therapy in paucibacillary leprosy: risk of relapse and disability in Agra PB cohort study","volume":"2","author":"Kumar","year":"2012"},{"key":"b8","series-title":"J Dermatol","first-page":"269","article-title":"Evaluation of polymerase chain reaction-based detection of Mycobacterium leprae for the diagnosis of leprosy","volume":"36","author":"Bang","year":"2009"},{"key":"b9","series-title":"Int J Womens Dermatol","first-page":"117","article-title":"Leprosy and women","volume":"2","author":"Sarkar","year":"2016"},{"key":"b10","series-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis","first-page":"e0005220","article-title":"Evaluation of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with slit skin smear examination (SSS) to confirm clinical diagnosis of leprosy in eastern Nepal","volume":"10","author":"Siwakoti","year":"2016"},{"key":"b11","series-title":"J Infect Dev Ctries","first-page":"3S","article-title":"Slit-skin smear for the classification of leprosy; are we wasting time and resource?","volume":"16","author":"Demsiss","year":"2022"},{"key":"b12","series-title":"Leprosy","first-page":"18","article-title":"Comparison of PCR mediated amplification of DNA and the classical methods for detection of Mycobacterium leprae in different types of clinical samples in leprosy patients and contacts","volume":"74","author":"Torres","year":"2003"},{"key":"b13","series-title":"FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol","first-page":"263","article-title":"LightCyclerTM real-time PCR for rapid detection and quantitation of Mycobacterium leprae in skin specimens","volume":"54","author":"Rudeeaneksin","year":"2008"},{"key":"b14","series-title":"J Clin Microbiol","first-page":"895","article-title":"Evaluation of polymerase chain reaction amplification of Mycobacterium leprae-specific repetitive sequence in biopsy specimens from leprosy patients","volume":"31","author":"Yoon","year":"1993"},{"key":"b15","series-title":"Braz J Infect Dis","first-page":"71","article-title":"qPCR detection of Mycobacterium leprae in biopsies and slit skin smear of different leprosy clinical forms","volume":"21","author":"Azevedo","year":"2017"},{"key":"b16","series-title":"Int J Dermatol","first-page":"1522","article-title":"Diagnosing leprosy: revisiting the role of the slit-skin smear with critical analysis of the applicability of polymerase chain reaction in diagnosis: PCR versus slit-skin smear in diagnosis of leprosy","volume":"50","author":"Banerjee","year":"2011"},{"key":"b17","series-title":"Arch Dermatol Res","first-page":"267","article-title":"Detection of Mycobacterium leprae DNA in skin lesions of leprosy patients by PCR may be affected by amplicon size","volume":"299","author":"Goulart","year":"2007"},{"key":"b18","series-title":"Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol","first-page":"693","article-title":"Fite\u2013Faraco staining in combination with multiplex polymerase chain reaction: a new approach to leprosy diagnosis","volume":"79","author":"Reja","year":"2013"},{"key":"b19","series-title":"Med Microbiol Immunol (Berl)","first-page":"189","article-title":"Detection and quantification of Mycobacterium leprae in tissue samples by real-time PCR","volume":"193","author":"Kramme","year":"2004"},{"key":"b20","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"524","article-title":"Application of RLEP real-time PCR for detection of M. leprae DNA in paraffin-embedded skin biopsy specimens for diagnosis of paucibacillary leprosy","volume":"90","author":"Yan","year":"2014"},{"key":"b21","series-title":"J Med Microbiol","first-page":"753","article-title":"Quantitative real-time PCR analysis of Mycobacterium leprae DNA and mRNA in human biopsy material from leprosy and reactional cases","volume":"58","author":"Lini","year":"2009"}],"container-title":["The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajtmh.org\/view\/journals\/tpmd\/109\/2\/article-p345.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajtmh.org\/view\/journals\/tpmd\/109\/2\/article-p345.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajtmh.org\/view\/journals\/tpmd\/109\/2\/article-p345.xml","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,2]],"date-time":"2023-08-02T13:17:23Z","timestamp":1690982243000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajtmh.org\/view\/journals\/tpmd\/109\/2\/article-p345.xml"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,2]]},"references-count":21,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2"},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4269\/ajtmh.22-0751","relation":{},"ISSN":["0002-9637","1476-1645"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0002-9637","type":"print"},{"value":"1476-1645","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,2]]}}}