Leprosy Mailing List – October 23, 2026
Ref.: (LML) The self-defence printed card
From: Ben Naafs, Munnekeburen, the Netherlands
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Dear Pieter,
I read Joël’s recent contribution (LML October 19, 2006). It is basically a compilation of what he has written before. For one of my last remarks I must apologise. I found the article he mentioned on Zenodo and did not realise it was a stored article. I could not come into the Indian leprosy Journal via their website. But using DuckDuckGo AI I was able to get the article and very interesting found the comments on that article by Sanderson and Rao and Joel’s answer too. I will include them in this message
A short remark on LAMP and mLAMP. Indeed they can be a real help in future as Pieter agreed on LML. A study tested LAMP on nasal swabs from children with leprosy, alongside slit-skin smears. It found M. leprae DNA in 37 of 53 nasal swabs (69.8%). This was a clinical study, though. ( Indian J Pediatr 93, 81 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-025-05792-4 I do not know whether nasal-swab LAMP is already used in the field. A good clinical examination has still to be done together with it. I agree with Joël that the proven patients should be getting full treatment. The contacts need a close follow-up. Concerning mLAMP: it needs more primers. The added challenge is getting multiple primer sets to work together without interfering. So, it may be feasible in a suitably equipped lab, but it isn’t yet a plug-and-play field test. ( https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-89304-2 ).
His next paragraph starts with a description of a form of innate immunity. Most studies are done in mice. But it is not unlikely that the same happens in man. The question is what will happen when PEP is given. M. leprae in a Schwann cell or macrophage can alter host RNA and DNA-related signalling, but not usually as a simple “large increase in DNA and RNA” from one bactericidal dose. Thus, I expect that PEP will not have much effect. In a leprosy patient most bacilli are already dead, as I mentioned before in one of my LML contributions and those few that die will not increase the signalling to cause damage. But it must be investigated in a research setup with mice. This is our task and not only the PEP believers!
Joël also states that: “There is no evidence at all that the 90 to 99.9% bactericide achieved by a single dose of a bactericidal drug somehow fails to damage bacilli within macrophages or to release bacillary debris including DNA into the macrophage cytosol”. But as mentioned before, I think when it kills it will be too little to cause extra damage. Also, that needs proper research.
Everything about PEP and problems after using PEP are said. For further discussions we should wait for research into this matter. In cell cultures, in animals or in a proper designed epidemiological study particular looking into the mentioned problems.
With regards,
Ben
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dr Ben Naafs
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LML - S Deepak, B Naafs, S Noto and P Schreuder
LML blog link: http://leprosymailinglist.blogspot.it/
Contact: Dr Pieter Schreuder << edit...@gmail.com
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