Abstract
Contrary to early expectations, it seems that there is no significant increase in global leprosy and HIV co-occurrence. However, most of the larger studies on the subject were done in the early to mid 1990s, in African countries, following designs with limited power to describe the true impact of co-infection. Moreover, the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) altered the clinical evolution of HIV infection, consequently leading to increasing reports of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) associated with leprosy. Although it has been argued that this association may have no impact on public health, its true importance remains to be elucidated. Finally, leprosy manifests in a wide range of clinical presentations, which sometimes imposes a clinical challenge and may lead to misdiagnosis.
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Talhari, S., Talhari, C. (2012). Leprosy and HIV/AIDS Co-infection. In: Nunzi, E., Massone, C. (eds) Leprosy. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-2376-5_34
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-2376-5_34
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