Introduction:

Hansen's disease or leprosy is an infectious and contagious disease of chronic evolution caused by a bacillus, Mycobacterium leprae. Pure, or primary, neural leprosy presents as peripheral neuropathy without the presence of skin lesions.

Patient information:

a young man, 19 years old, was presented with a history of sensory alterations in both legs of approximately two months of evolution. Physical examination revealed hypoesthesia in patches in both lower limbs. Diagnostic confirmation was established by biopsy of the sural nerve. Antileprosy treatment was started and clinical improvement was achieved with few weeks of evolution.

Conclusions:

clinical diagnosis is difficult and the disease may go unnoticed for years, with neural damage with increasing disability, so an exhaustive clinical approach is required to achieve accurate diagnoses. Multidisciplinary management improves the prognosis and quality of life of patients with this disease.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )