Abstract
Very roughly, four thousand lepromatous leprosy patients were registered from all the neighbouring districts at Ghatampur and Etawah clinics of JALMA, U. P. state, India, from 1966 to 1969.
Out of them, about 45%, 1, 819 patients (male 1, 585 and female 234) were treated for the period of over 25% of the scheduled period for the treatment. As the former report, here is presented some analysis of these 1, 819 lepromatous leprosy patients from the view point of the treatment period and the effect of it. The lepromatous patients who were living in Ghatampur tahsil were excluded in the report.
Fifty-seven percent out of 1, 585 male patients had turned to negative once, twice or over thrice continuously in the slit skin smear examination until the data were collected in 1972 to 1973, and 55% of 234 female cases showed the negative result in the same period. Further, about 75% of male patients were treated for the period of over 50% of the scheduled period for the treatment, and about female patients it was 69%. The value for the male group was lower than it given for the male lepromatous patients living in Ghatampur tahsil. The result showed that it would be difficult to give a good effect of the treatment to the patients who were living in the larger areas by the ordinary out patient clinic system.
In the male group, a better attending rate was obtained in the middle and aged generation than in the younger. The attending rate was higher in the first year of the treatment then it decreased gradually to the fifth year and among the third, fourth and fifth years it showed only a little difference year to year. After the sixth year, it decreased much more and the attending rate of over 50% to the scheduled period was only 57% then. The result shows that in the cases of chronic diseases such as lepromatous leprosy the patients will give a fairly good attending rate until the fifth year and that after the sixth year they will gradually lose the earnest attitude to the treatment.
Generally speaking, the difference in the result of the slit skin smear examination at the starting of the treatment did not give a large influence to the result of the similar examination after the treatment and medication continued for several years. Some inner factors of the patients seemed to give a large influence to the speed of turning to be negative in the slit skin smear examination.
