Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Leprosy
A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 2783
Special Issue Editor
Interests: leprosy; early diagnosis; molecular methods; Q PCR, ELISA
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Diagnostics in infectious diseases is in the midst of a technological revolution. Recent advances in technology have given rise to a number of host- and pathogen-based diagnostic approaches. Rapid diagnostics promises to improve clinical care in acute and chronic infectious diseases by ensuring that patients receive prompt and effective treatment, while promoting public health by reducing the usage of unnecessary antibiotics when they are not required. Leprosy is a worldwide health problem that necessitates the development of new and innovative management strategies. Early diagnosis of leprosy is a critical step in reducing the spread and incidence of the disease. Therefore, the development of molecular and immunological platforms, including the mapping of antigens, which have potential to be used as immunodiagnostics and molecular tools for the detection of Mycobacterium leprae, is an important approach to confirming clinical diagnosis. In addition to ELISA, molecular tests aid in the identification of specific M. leprae sequences in clinical samples, which can be amplified through the polymerase chain reaction technique, allowing DNA detection of the infectious agent, or with Q PCR technology, which allows the evaluation of viable bacterial load and the monitoring of drug resistance. While this progress is encouraging, it is unlikely that any single diagnostic platform will fully address clinicians’ need for actionable data with short turn-around times in all settings. Thus, a variety of diagnostic tests will ultimately be employed in clinical microbiology laboratories to fully capitalize upon the promise of novel diagnostic approaches.
Dr. Mallika Lavania
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- mycobacterium leprae
- molecular diagnosis
- PCR
- early diagnosis
- point of care
- ELISA
- transmission
- serological methods
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