Background and objectives: Leprosy is yet an important infectious disease in Brazil. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of leprosy among children and adolescents in a countryside city from Legal Amazon region. Results: there was a high frequency of Hansen's disease among children from 5 to 9 years-old, predominantly females, with multibacillary form, and dimorphous types. Conclusion: due to late diagnosis and higher frequency of treatment abandonment leprosy is a serious public health problem among children and adolescents is this small city. Keywords : multibacillary leprosy; borderline http://www.ijl.org.in Original Article Received : 04.03.2012 Revised : 07.07.2012 Accepted : 08.08.2012 Indian J Lepr 2012, 84 : 265-269 © Hind Kusht Nivaran Sangh, New Delhi 1 MJS Santos, Nursing Course of the Institute of Biological and Health Sciences (ICBS), Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Campus Universitário do Araguaia II, MT, Brazil 2 CKB Ferrari, Graduate Program on Basic and Applied Immunology and Parasitology. Institute of Biological and Health Sciences (ICBS), Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Campus Universitário do Araguaia II, MT, Brazil. 3 OR de Toledo, Pharmacy Course, Institute of Biological and Health Sciences (ICBS), Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Campus I, MT, Brazil. 4 E de Moraes, Nursing Course of the Institute of Biological and Health Sciences (ICBS), Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Campus Universitário do Araguaia II, MT, Brazil 5 FL David, Pharmacy Course, Institute of Biological and Health Sciences (ICBS), Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Campus I, MT, Brazil. Correspondence to : FL David Email : flaviaufmt@hotmail.com Leprosy among children and adolescents under 15 years-old in a city of Legal Amazon, Brazil 1 2 3 4 5 MJS Santos , CKB Ferrari , OR de Toledo , EV de Moraes , FL David Introduction In 2010, 192246 cases of leprosy were reported 1 world-wide . India accounts for 64% of new leprosy cases, followed by Brazil, Indonesia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Sudan (WHO 2011, Margoles et al 2011). Leprosy induces feet deformities and amputation of toes which have been associated with decreased walking capacity; and it has been estimated that two million people worldwide are disabled due to leprosy (Slim et al 2011, Nsagha et al 2011). From 210 patients enrolled for treatment in a leprosy reference center in rural Ehiopia, 61.5% had developed some type of disability (Ramos et al 2011). In a global scenario of immigrations of the poorest populations, children and adolescent leprosy patients are driven to non-endemic nations such as France. Then, the WHO global strategy of leprosy elimination seems to be difficult to be achieved and leprosy remains an important disease burden for both children and adults in Asian, African, and Latin American populations. According to a recent study (Penna et al 2009), there are ten most probable clusters of leprosy in Brazil. The second most important cluster