Which feature would most likely be found in a patient with lepromatous leprosy? <img src=" />
High-Yield Explanation
The disease of leprosy is divided into two basic types: lepromatous and tuberculoid. The lepromatous form is an aggressive disease, whereas the tuberculoid form tends to be self-limiting. Individuals with lepromatous leprosy have an inflammatory skin infiltrate, which consists largely of macrophages that have a characteristic vacuolated or "foamy" appearance (caused by the accumulation of lipids within phagocytes) and intracellular acid-fast bacilli. In the lepromatous form, the presence of organisms indicates impaired cellular immunity, unlike the tuberculoid type, which can effectively kill the bacteria. Harrison's internal medicine 20e pg936, 1260t, 1261-1262, 1261f, 3214,