DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS
(NON-LEPROSY CONDITIONS ON THE SKIN)
Some of the pictures, particularly those which are of 'simple' or commonly occurring conditions, may be valuable to peripheral health care workers.
Other less common conditions have been inducted since the overall distribution and use of this NEW ATLAS OF LEPROSY may include experienced observers in government and non-government health facilities, qualified doctors at district or referral level and dermatologists.
Failure to keep leprosy in mind, leading to under-diagnosis (missing the diagnosis) is a serious matter. Over or wrong diagnosis is equally serious and may be occurring to a significant extent in programmes which undertake intensive case-finding activities over a limited period of time. Particularly under these circumstances, WHO has advised
"....greater emphasis should be placed on the specificity of diagnosis and it is already becoming important that every new case detected be thoroughly investigated for correctness of diagnosis of the disease and possible identification of index case(s)."
We have divided the pictures into two groups:
(a) Relatively 'simple' (straightforward) conditions which occur commonly in most countries, 1-15, and
(b) Less commonly occurring conditions, including a few which may rarely be seen in some areas, mainly as a reminder of the wide range of skin (dermatological) conditions which can, under different circumstances, cause confusion and lead to wrong diagnosis, 16-25.
