01147nas a2200181   4500000000100000008004100001260003400042653002600076653001200102653002400114653002600138100001300164245004900177300001200226490000700238520070600245022001400951       1967                            d  bOxford University Press (OUP)10aMycobactericidal drug10aLeprosy10aMorphological index10aPeripheral neuropathy1 aBrowne S00aThe clinical evaluation of drugs for leprosy  a601-6070 v613 a<p>This paper attempts to clarify the methodology of trials of reputedly mycobactericidal drugs in leprosy, by isolating the factors that have in the past led to confusion. Leprosy is not only a slightly contagious disease; it is also the sum of immunological reactions, and the outcome of consequential peripheral neuropathies.</p>

<p>Clinical evaluation of drug efficacy may be impossibly difficult or misleading, and must be supplemented by regular calculation of the Morphological Index. Many manifestations of the disease are related to the persistence in the tissues of acid-fast debris from dead&nbsp;<em>Myco. leprae</em>, which is not removed by the normal processes of phagocytosis.</p>
  a0035-9203