Leprosy in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: An integrative literature review

Abstract

Leprosy is a chronic infectious pathology mainly caused by the intracellular pathogen Mycobacterium leprae. This bacterium especially inhabits skin macrophages and Schwann cells of peripheral nerves, causing skin disease and/or neuritis. COVID-19 is a severe acute respiratory disease (SARS-CoV-2), it emerged recently, while the causative agent of leprosy lasts for more than 2,000 years. Thus, the studies were published in the years 2020, 2021 and 2022, being the equivalent of 14.29% in the year 2020, 71.42% in the year 2021 and about 14.29% in the year 2022, most of the works were from Brazil 85.71%, against 14.29% from Nepal. Regarding the results exposed, it is worth noting that, due to the decrease in the underreporting of endemic diseases, such as leprosy, due to COVID-19 infection, concerns have arisen about the diagnosis and treatment of the disease because of the reduction in notification and demand from users. during the pandemic due to social isolation. Among the main issues, we can highlight the increase in the difficulty of access to health and poverty due to the obstruction of non-essential services, which mainly affects those who already live in precarious conditions.