Psoriasis and other common dermatoses in leprosy.

The medical records of all 309 leprosy patients who have been under the care of the Government Hospital for Hansen's disease in Jerusalem, Israel during the last 30 years, were surveyed. None of the patients showed clinical evidence of psoriasis on numerous examinations conducted during periods of follow-up of up to more than 4 decades. If this finding proves to be reproducible also in other groups of leprosy patients in other regions of the world, this would suggest that psoriasis is very rare among leprosy patients and that psoriatic subjects might have a natural protection against the development of leprosy. This could possibly be explained as the result of the hyperactivity of the reticuloendothelial and phagocytic systems which seems to be an integral part of the psoriatic constitution.