BACKGROUND: The last epidemiology study on leprosy in metropolitan France was done in 1970 - 1978. We performed a new evaluation of the situation close to 2000, the date the World Health Organization has targeted for the "eradication of leprosy".
PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted on data from 1995-1998 obtained from inquiries to 105 dermatology (56), infectious disease (41) and neurology (8) units.
RESULTS: Response rate was 86 p. 100. In 1998, 232 patients were under surveillance, mainly in dermatology units (81 p. 100). Sixty-nine patients were taking an antibacillar treatment, giving a very low prevalence of 0.013 per 10 000 inhabitants. On the average, 18 new cases were observed per year over the four years studied (range 16-20). Thirty-seven percent of these new cases were French, from metropolitan areas (38 p. 100) or from overseas (62 p. 100).
DISCUSSION: Our study confirms the persistence of new cases of leprosy identified in metropolitan France over these last years. The number is quite similar to that noted in the earlier survey, excepting the years 1975-1997 when there was an influx of immigrants from Southeast Asia that led to a rise in the number of new cases. Approximately one-third of the cases in the present survey were in French from metropolitan areas or overseas departments. None of these cases observed originated in metropolitan France since a trip to an endemic area was found in all new cases and no new case was observed in the families of newly identified patients.
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