A Study of Selenium in Leprosy

INTRODUCTION: Leprosy is a chronic infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae. Selenium, on the other hand, is a substance, which is needed for its protective role against microorganism infection. AIM: This study aims to know the association between selenium serum levels with bacteriological index. METHODS: This is an analytical cross-sectional study model. Sampling was done with consecutive sampling method in Pirngadi General Hospital, Lau Simomo Leprosy Hospital and H. Adam Malik General Hospital. Samples were taken from patients’ venous blood serum then selenium levels were measured. RESULTS: This study found 30 leprosy patients consisted of 19 patients with paucibacillary (PB) leprosy and 11 patients with multibacillary (MB) leprosy. Selenium serum levels of patients with PB leprosy (mean = 97.16 µg/dL) were found to be significantly higher than MB leprosy (mean = 77.27 µg/dL) with p = 0.008 using t-test. The negative correlation between selenium serum levels with bacterial index in patients with leprosy was also found in this study using Spearman’s rho test (r = - 0.499, p = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Selenium serum levels of patients with PB leprosy are higher than patients with MB leprosy, and high bacteriological index in patients with leprosy were correlated with low selenium serum levels.