[01] Bashir Abdrhman Bashir, Department of Hematology, Medical Laboratory Sciences Division, Port Sudan Ahlia College, Port Sudan, Sudan. [02] Mohamed Abdel Mahmoud, Department of Dermatology, Port Sudan Teaching Hospital, Port Sudan, Sudan. [03] Salih Abd-Alaziz Ahmed, Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Red Sea University, Port Sudan, Sudan.

Leprosy (Hansen’s disease) is an ancient contagious chronic disorder, affects mainly skin, peripheral nerves, mucosa of upper respiratory tract and the eyes. It is a granulomatous infectious disease that is triggered by Mycobacterium leprae. If untreated, leprosy is a leading cause of long-term physical disability. Statistically speaking, Sudan has not achieved the World Health Organization target for the elimination of leprosy (<1 case per 10.000 people). Mycobacterium leprae is the only bacterium that has not been cultured in a laboratory. It is diagnosed by skin smear or scraping, biopsy, serology, animal inoculation, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We present a case of diffuse lepromatous leprosy (multibacillary leprosy) in an eastern Sudanese, 43-years old male complaining of a persistent pruritic rash throughout his body. The diagnosis was established after Zeihl-Neelsen staining (ZN) of a skin smear prepared from skin lesions on the upper limb revealed the detection of an acid-fast bacilli (AFB). The patient was not diagnosed until he met the consultant dermatologist. Overall, this report indicates that lepromatous leprosy is frequent in eastern Sudan populations and highlights the demand for continued efforts that encourage awareness programs and conserve, control activities in the eastern Sudan.

Leprosy, AFB, Skin Smear, Multibacillary, Sudan

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