A 57-year-old Sinhalese woman presented to the dermatology unit of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka with extensive seborrheic dermatitis and tender facial induration (Fig. ) of 1-year duration. She was a homemaker from an urban area with poor social background. She did not have diabetes or hypertension. She had received a Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination. She did not smoke tobacco or drink alcohol. A skin biopsy taken from indurated facial plaque revealed evidence of borderline tuberculoid leprosy with type 1 reaction. She did not have hypopigmented anesthetic patches or thickened peripheral nerves in the rest of her body. She was commenced on multibacillary treatment for leprosy. A year later, she developed fever, loss of appetite, loss of weight, and widespread skin abscesses all over her body. Her body mass index (BMI) was within normal range and the rest of the general examination was normal. A respiratory examination revealed bilateral (B/L) coarse crepitations; a neurological examination was normal. Her erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) remained persistently elevated at more than 120 mm/hour. She had inflammatory shadows in a chest X-ray (CXR). A sputum examination for AFB was positive and GeneXpert confirmed rifampicin resistance. At that time, she revealed a diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and tuberculous lymphadenitis, which was made 5 years back, where she had taken 6-month TB treatment but had defaulted on antiretroviral therapy. During this presentation, her CD4+ count was 57/μL. The rest of the investigations are summarized in Table . There was no contact history of leprosy or TB. She was started on a multidrug treatment regime, which included intravenously administered kanamycin (15 mg/kg per day), orally administered ethambutol (800 mg/day), orally administered levofloxacin (750 mg/day), isoniazid (300 mg/day), orally administered ethionamide (500 mg/day), orally administered cycloserine (750 mg/day), and orally administered pyridoxine (10 mg/day). A repeated split skin smear was negative and she continued with multidrug treatment-multibacillary therapy (dapsone 100 mg/day and clofazimine 50 mg/day and 300 mg/once a month) for leprosy without rifampicin. Highly active antiretroviral treatment was restarted subsequently. At 6 months she had clinically, hematologically, and radiologically improved.
A 47-year-old Tamil woman with poorly controlled long-standing diabetes mellitus presented with facial infiltration, multiple ichthyotic patches, and peripheral neuropathy associated with Charcot joints and trophic ulcers (Fig. ). She was a homemaker with poor social background and there was no contact history of TB or leprosy. She did not smoke tobacco or drink alcohol. She had received a BCG vaccination. She had a low BMI and a respiratory examination revealed B/L coarse crepitations. There was no peripheral neuropathy. A clinical diagnosis of lepromatous leprosy was made which was later confirmed with histology and slit-skin smears: bacteriological index (BI) of 5; morphological index (MI) of 2%. Initial investigations revealed persistently elevated ESR (100–122 mm/hour) and inflammatory shadows in a CXR. Two consecutive sputum smears were positive for AFB and the result of a Mantoux test was positive (18 mm). Her liver and renal functions were normal (Table ). She was negative for HIV screening. She was commenced on both TB (isoniazid 300 mg/day, rifampicin 450 mg/day, ethambutol 800 mg/day, and pyrazinamide 1500 mg/day) and multibacillary leprosy treatment (dapsone 100 mg/day and clofazimine 50 mg/day and 300 mg/once a month) without a monthly loading dose of rifampicin. She had poor compliance and defaulted treatment several times and ultimately succumbed to the illness. An autopsy was not performed.