LEPROSY IN CROATIA IN THE 20TH-CENTURY

Even today, leprosy is a relatively frequently occurring disease, espe cially in tropical regions of the world. From the eleventh to thirteen th century, leprosy pandemics affected Europe, including Croatia. Prob ably as a consequence of such history, one can still find endemic foci of leprosy in present-day Croatia. The aim of this study was to analy se all cases of leprosy registered in Croatia during the twentieth cen tury; therefore, we studied thoroughly existing medical documentation and published reports on sporadic leprosy cases, and went on to collec t the relevant data through on-site investigation in those parts of Cr oatia known as putative endemic foci of leprosy. In this way, we colle cted data concerning the number of leprosy cases, the probable sources of infection, and traced the possible paths of spread of the disease. During the twentieth century, 17 cases of leprosy were registered in Croatia. However, due to the loss of medical documentation concerning the cases from Metkovic, the total number was obviously slightly great er. Concerning the 17 analysed cases, 4 patients were most probably in fected during their visits (as sailors or immigrant workers) to the Mi ddle East, South America or Africa; 3 patients developed leprosy after prolonged close contact with previously infected family members, whil e the exact source of infection remains unsettled for the remaining 10 . However, 2 of these patients originated from the area of Cazin in Bo snia and Herzegovina, which is known to be an endemic focus of leprosy . Furthermore, the remaining 8 came from the small area of the village of Blizna in the Croatian municipality of Trogir, and therefore it se ems reasonable to conclude that Blizna represents the endemic focus of leprosy in Croatia. The last case of leprosy in Blizna was registered back in 1956. Nevertheless, it is clear that sporadic cases of lepros y can reappear in Croatia, originating either from this endemic focus of Blizna, or as an infected person returning to Croatia from abroad. So, we can conclude that, even today, Croatian medical doctors (and es pecially dermatovenereologists) should still be acquainted with the cl inical diagnosis of leprosy and basic principles of its treatment.