Introduction:

Leprosy is an infectious chronic disease, produced by the Mycobacterium leprae, and constitutes one of the oldest ills of humanity.

Objective:

To describe some clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the patients with leprosy belonging to Ramón López Peña Teaching Polyclinic in Santiago de Cuba.

Methods:

A descriptive and retrospective study of the 11 patients diagnosed with Hansen disease in the mentioned health area during 2005-2019 was carried out. A database was created by means of the SPSS system, version 11.5 for Windows, for processing the information, where the data of the surveys were tabulated. The analysis of the results was expressed in absolute numbers and percentages for its best interpretation.

Results:

There was a prevalence of the 35-44 age group (54.5 %), the male sex (54.6 %) and the borderline lepromatous leprosy, in its multibacilar clinical form. Most of the patients were early diagnosed and certain degree of disability was just observed in the late diagnoses; also, the unfavorable hygienic conditions and overcrowding were the risk factors of more relevance.

Conclusions:

In spite of the existence of patients with leprosy in this health area, a period of epidemiological silence was observed that along with the existing risk factors, increases the infection possibility and puts in danger the established objectives for its eradication.

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