Jiaojiao Zhou, Ziwei Wu, Yi Tong, Santosh Chokkakula, Ying Shi, Haiqin Jiang, Jie Liu, De Wang, Wenyue Zhang, Chen Wang, Tingfang Zhao, Kang Yuan, Tao Li, Lu Ma, Qin Yang, Shizhen Wang, Feng Hong, Hongsheng Wang, Jinlan Li
OBJECTIVES: The present study analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prevalence and incidence of new leprosy cases, as well as the diversity, distribution, and temporal transmission of Mycobacterium leprae strains at the county level in leprae-endemic provinces in Southwest China. METHODS: A total of 219 new leprosy cases during two periods, 2018-2019 and 2020-2021, were compared. We genetically characterized 83 clinical isolates of M. leprae in Guizhou using variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)...
2024: Frontiers in Public Health