Journal of

ntroduction: Leprosy is an infectious disease which primarily affect skin and peripheral nerves. Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis that are the acid-fast bacillus are known to be cause of leprosy. Genetic factors and immunological function have some roles in susceptibility of developing leprosy. There are some cases of familial leprosy.

Case Report: Here in, we report a case of familial leprosy which in one member it was symptomatic and others were asymptomatic with positive skin smear for mycobacterium leprosy bacilli.

Conclusion: We recommend in addition to approach and manage lepromatous patients, their families be also evaluated.

Background and Aim: Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease of hair follicle. Osteopontin is an early T lymphocyte activator that may play a role in some immunological diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the serum level of osteopontin in patients with alopecia areata and compare it with the level in normal subjects.
 

Methods: 54 patients with alopecia areata who presented to the Razi Hospital in Tehran in 2017 and 2018 were enrolled. Half of the patients had severe disease and half of them had mild disease. Also, 52 healthy subjects were selected as control group (age and sex matched). The severity of disease was determined using SALT Score. Serum osteopontin levels were measured by ELISA method.
 

Results: The results showed that serum osteopontin levels were significantly higher in patients with alopecia areata than healthy subjects. There was no significant relationship between osteopontin level and SALT score or duration of the disease.
 

Conclusion: The level of osteopontin is higher in AA patients than normal subjects but it does not correlate with the severity of disease.