Rifapentine in Household Contacts of Patients with Leprosy

To the Editor: Wang et al. (May 18 issue)(1) report results of a 4-year trial that showed that the incidence of leprosy among household contacts was lower with single-dose rifapentine than with no intervention. Although the methods appear sound, several potential biases and concerns warrant attention. First, the short follow-up period challenges the plausibility of the findings, considering the estimated incubation period of leprosy of 5 to 20 years - which can even exceed 50 years, especially in areas with low endemic levels of the disease.(2) Second, single-dose rifapentine in combination with minocycline and moxifloxacin has been shown to delay . . .