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Case Reports
. 2017 Nov;23(11):1929-1930.
doi: 10.3201/eid2311.171228.

Diffuse Multibacillary Leprosy of Lucio and Latapí with Lucio's Phenomenon, Peru

Cesar Ramal, Martin Casapia, Johan Marin, Juan C Celis, Jorge Baldeon, Stalin Vilcarromero, Guillermo Cubas, Alex Espejo, Francisco Bravo, Oswaldo V Paredes, Jose M Ramos, Pedro Legua
Case Reports

Diffuse Multibacillary Leprosy of Lucio and Latapí with Lucio's Phenomenon, Peru

Cesar Ramal et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2017 Nov.

Abstract

Diffuse multibacillary leprosy of Lucio and Latapí is mainly reported in Mexico and Central America. We report a case in a 65-year-old man in Peru. He also had Lucio's phenomenon, characterized by vascular thrombosis and invasion of blood vessel walls by leprosy bacilli, causing extensive skin ulcers.

Keywords: Leprosy; Lucio’s phenomenon; Mycobacterium leprae; Peru; Peruvian Amazon; South America; bacteria; diffuse leprosy of Lucio and Latapí; lepromatous; multibacillary leprosy; vascular thrombosis.

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Figures

Figure
Figure
Diffuse multibacillary leprosy of Lucio and Latapí with Lucio’s phenomenon in a 65-year-old man in Peru. A) Vasculitis with necrosis of the superficial vascular plexus. Forearms and dorsum of hands show papulonodular dermotoses infiltrating erythematous lesions (white arrows). B) Patches of scaling skin or necrotic eschar on feet. C) Skin biopsy of leg (hematoxylin and eosin stain, original magnification ×40) showing largely unremarkable epidermis but collection of foamy histiocytes in dermis (arrow). D) Fite-Faraco staining (original magnification ×400) clearly shows large quantity of bacilli (arrows) in the foamy histiocytes, consistent with the theory of infectious vasculitis being an etiopathogenic mechanism of Lucio’s phenomenon.
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