Assessment of knowledge and skills in early diagnosis of leprosy and attitudes towards leprosy amongst doctors working in dermatological services, Shandong Province, People's Republic of China.

After the leprosy control programme in Shandong Province, China, had declared elimination in 1994, it was no longer cost effective to rely on rapid surveys, population surveys and contact tracing for case detection, and since then most new cases have been diagnosed by the dermatological services. The dermatological services will continue to play an important role in diagnosis of the few incident leprosy cases scattered in wide geographic areas and in a population of 90 million. In order to better understand the knowledge and skills in early diagnosis of leprosy among doctors working in dermatological services around the province, doctors attending the dermatological annual meeting and a dermatological training workshop were assessed on their knowledge and skills in early diagnosis of leprosy and their attitude towards leprosy with a semi-structured questionnaire. The results showed that continuous training was needed for dermatologists from both general hospitals and the leprosy control programme. In particular, the training methods for the skills in nerve examination including palpation of peripheral nerves and nerve function assessment should be improved.