The main objective of the current edition is to provide clinicians, researchers and everyone associated with leprosy, insights into the latest research and developments on the subject all over the world, and access to an updated and organized database of information.

The text has undergone a significant revision to incorporate the advances in the many areas that further our understanding of the disease, particularly in relation to its immunology, genetics and host susceptibility, drug resistance, molecular diagnostics, reactions and biology of Mycobacterium leprae, unraveling the immunopathogenic basis of some of the major components of the disease presentation.