Assessment of Fertility Status among Multibacillary Leprotic Females in Kafr El-Shiekh and Damietta Governerates

Attallah, Rabie Bedir; Hashem, Osama Abdelazeem; Oun, Abdel Raouf Mohamad; Abo-Elfetoh, Salwa Ibrahim Elsayed

doi:10.21608/ejhm.2018.19898

Assessment of Fertility Status among Multibacillary Leprotic Females in Kafr El-Shiekh and Damietta Governerates

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Andrology, Faculty of medicine, Al-Azhar University(Damietta)

² Department of Gynacology and Obstatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University(Damietta)

³ MBBCH

10.21608/ejhm.2018.19898

Abstract

Background: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by obligate intra- cellular microorganism mycobacterium leprae that tend to infect skin and the peripheral nerves. The disease manifested clinically by a spectrum depending on the host immune response and finally leading to peripheral nerve damage and deformities. Although leprosy rarely involves the female genital tract, a significantly larger number of female patients with MB leprosy had irregular periods postdating the onset of leprosy also gonadotropic hormone levels were elevated in significantly more patients with MB and that the mean levels of these hormones showed an increasing trend from controls. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the fertility status among multibacillary leprotic females Patients and Methods: This study was conducted on thirty multibacillary leprotic females who were selected from Kafr-Elsheikh dermatology and leprosy hospital and Damietta dermatology and leprosy hospital and twinty healthy females as a control group. Patients were subjected to history taking, general clinical examination and dermatological examination, and were divided into groups according to WHO classification. Results: Our study showed that a significantly large number of female patients with MB leprosy had irregular period post dating to the onset of leprosy and the gonadotrophic hormone level is significantly elevated in patients than in control in addition to fertility which is significantly affected in MB leprotic females. Conclusion: the findings of this study are significant in view of the fact that it is generally believed that ovarian dysfunction does not occur in leprosy. Even in the absence of confounding factors like anemia and tuberculosis, leprosy may be associated with menstrual irregularities, infertility, and elevation of gonadotropin hormones.

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