Epidemiology and assessment of the physical disabilities and psychosocial disorders in new leprosy patients admitted to a referral hospital in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

摘要

Objective: Despite intensive campaigns initiated in the 1990s, leprosy remains endemic in Brazil. It is essential that simple and efficient methods of assessing the extent of disease-related disabilities be established so that appropriate treatment and rehabilitation can be provided to patients in order to break the disease transmission chain.