PEOPLE and PEP4LEP at LRI Spring meeting
On 20-21 April 2023, the Leprosy Research Initiative (LRI) held its Spring Meeting in Breukelen, the Netherlands. This in-person event brought together over 80 attendees from 20 countries with an interest in leprosy research. Two projects which received joint funding from EDCTP and LRI presented preliminary and final outcomes: the PEOPLE Project and PEP4LEP Project. Michelle Helinski, Senior Project Officer at EDCTP, attended the meeting.
Kitesa Debelo, the Ethiopian PEP4LEP project manager, presented on combining the administration of leprosy post-exposure prophylaxis using single dose rifampicin (SDR-PEP), with skin screening for leprosy, other neglected tropical skin diseases and common skin diseases in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Tanzania. He stated: “The LRI Spring Meeting was a great opportunity to get to know many researchers and organizations working in the area of leprosy. Despite different contexts, we often face similar challenges. It was therefore a good opportunity to hear about experiences and innovations of different countries in leprosy research.”
Professor Epco Hasker presented preliminary outcomes of the PEOPLE project on post-exposure prophylaxis for leprosy in Comoros and Madagascar. Over a 3-year period, the trial compared the incidence of leprosy in three intervention arms to a comparator arm with only door-to-door screening and treatment of leprosy patients. In the intervention arms, on top of door-to-door screening and treatment, SDR-PEP was provided in different modalities. In all three arms (2-4) SDR-PEP was offered to all household members, in arm 3 also to anyone living within 100 meters of an index case and in arm 4 also to serologically positive individuals living within 100 meters. In total, over 110 thousand individuals were enrolled in the study. At the individual level, SDR-PEP gave a 40% reduction in risk of leprosy, at the community level there was a non-significant reduction in arms 3 and 4 that became marginally significant for arm 3, (incidence rate ratio 0.5, (0.3 – 1.0)) when baseline prevalence was taken into account. In addition, there was strong geographical clustering up to 75 meters of index cases. Targeted door-to-door screening with SDR-PEP added on appears to be the most efficient way forward.
Dr. Suzan Trienekens, Coordinator of LRI, said: “It has been a pleasure to see the progress and results of the PEP4LEP and PEOPLE project. The consortia’s research on leprosy prevention and its implementation have been a great contribution to the event and leprosy research in general. We are proud to contribute to funding these projects and are grateful to all those involved for their work.”
