Leprosy Mailing List – November 21st , 2007
Ref.: Dapsone
From: Lockwood D., London, UK
Dear Salvatore,
A contribution to the dapsone discussion. Adverse Effects from Dapsone.
It is useful that people are raising the
question of adverse effects from dapsone. When I reviewed the data
from the clinical trials that had been done on using MDT for the
treatment of leprosy I could find no systematic recording of adverse
effects that might be attributable to dapsone, or even any of the
other components of MDT.
In Leprosy Review in Sept 2007 a report
was published from Brazil suggesting that the incidence of adverse
effects attributable to dapsone might be as high as 43.8%. However this was retrospective
study. It is very
important that we do good prospective studies to quantify the
extent of adverse effect associated with multi-drug therapy for
leprosy.
It is possible that there are geographical
and/or racial differences associated with MDT treatment and not
just associated with G6PD deficiency.
This issue becomes more important as drug treatment is being
moved out to be delivered by people who are not experienced in the use
of dapsone. It is also important because patients should now
expect to be given accurate information about adverse effects.
Best wishes,
Diana
1.
Lockwood DN Leprosy Clin Evid. 2004 Dec;(12):1103-14.
2.
Deps PD et al Adverse effects form multi-drug therapy in Brazil
Lepr Rev 2007; 78: 216-222
