Pancytopenia due to lepromatous involvement of the bone marrow: successful treatment with multidrug therapy

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease with a wide spectrum of signs and symptoms depending on the ability of the host’s immune system to resist the infection. The disease is frequently associated with sensory loss in skin lesions and damage in peripheral nerve trunks leading to nerve function impairment. In lepromatous leprosy, the immune system offers no protection against the multiplying bacilli and this results in heavy infiltration of the internal organs. We report a case of florid lepromatous leprosy with bone marrow suppression due to the disease, presenting with anemia, leukocytopenia and thrombocytopenia. The hematological abnormalities were fully reversed by mutidrug therapy for leprosy. We suggest that infiltration of the bone marrow by Mycobacterium leprae can cause pancytopenia, which can be cured by treatment of the leprosy alone.