dr. richard wing communicable disease director, dshs, region 11 harlingen, texas nhdp cpc 2 case 2...
TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Richard Wing
Communicable Disease Director, DSHS, Region 11
Harlingen, Texas
NHDP CPC 2Case 2 Jan 24 2005
•McAllen
China •
• Monterrey
• 9 ½ year old boy born in Monterrey, Mexico
• Lived with grandparents in China, Mexico until age 2
• Living in Mission, Texas for the last 7 ½ years
Mission •
• Grandfather with leg lesions for over 10 years• Mother with leg lesions 5 years ago (resolved)• Patient with leg lesions 3 years ago (resolved)• May 2005 nodular lesions to face progressing to target lesions over entire body• June 2005 biopsy done suggesting leprosy (tuberculoid)
• Multiple plaques with heavy scale; slight loss of sensation within some of the lesions
• Nasal septum with edema & mucosal erosions• Normal motor strength• Slit skin smears: knees 4+/globi; back 3+; elbows 3+; ears NF
• Enlarged right radial cutaneous & ulnar nerves
• Large plaque to palm of right hand
• Fissures at the base of the fingers
• 4th right finger swollen at proximal interphlangeal joint
• Painful with movement & tender to touch
• X-ray: bony erosion to distal end of 1st phalanx of the right 4th finger
• WHO classification: multibacillary; Ridley-Jopling classification: BT/BB
• Treatment: Dapsone 50 mg daily (1-2 mg/kg); Rifampin 300 mg daily (10 mg/kg)
• No Clofazamine given: none available to MD in south Texas & not FDA approved for use in children ( as per Dr. Pat Joyce )
• Paradoxical reaction: golf ball size lymph node swelling in right axilla 2 weeks after starting therapy
• After 3 weeks of therapy: development of bilateral hand edema, increased tenderness/induration of all lesions, & extensive desquamation of all lesions
• No new nerve findings
• Diagnosis: reversal reaction
• Treatment: Prednisone 20 mg daily; Rifampin 300 mg changed to once monthly dosing ( DOT); Dapsone remained at 50 mg daily
• Significant clinical improvement after 3 weeks of steroid therapy: flattening of lesions with fading erythema
• Same day: facial lesions show resolution of the desquamation
• Prednisone dose is decreased to 15 mg daily
• Prednisone dose subsequently decreased to 10 mg daily
• Within 2 weeks of decreasing Prednisone the patient experiences a flare-up of all lesions
• Prednisone dose now increased to 30 mg daily with a plan for a much slower taper than before
• Despite the breakthrough of the skin lesions on the lower dose of Prednisone, by this time in the therapy the swelling & pain to the right 4 th finger had completely resolved
• A little more than a month later the patient’s skin lesions have again faded
• He is tolerating the DDS/Rifampin & Prednisone without any difficulty
• No breakthrough reactions to this point with the slower steroid taper
• The patient comes to the clinic much happier than before because his skin lesions are no longer a topic of conversation among his classmates
• The grandfather comes from Mexico for an evaluation. History of ulcerations to hands/feet for more than 10 years, as well as nasal stuffiness for at least 4 years. Long history of shooting & skinning armadillos.
• Complete loss of sensation to upper & lower extremities in a stocking/glove distribution; note the amputation of the left 3rd toe due to previous gangrene
• Slit skin smears: knees/elbows 1+; ears NF• Receiving treatment in Mexico for “poor circulation”
• In a rather strange twist to the story: the patient is well-known to leprosy control in Mexico and was supposedly receiving standard multidrug therapy
• However, there is another man in his town with the same name and apparently the other man was receiving this gentleman’s leprosy medications