Recently, there has been a sharp increase in the number of leprosy patients in The Netherlands, due to an increased immigration from Surinam where leprosy is hyperendemic. The patients registered at the Dermatological Department of the University of Amsterdam during the years 1972–1976 were reviewed. It was found that 28% of the untreated patients had recently suffered a relapse. A substantial percentage took the medication irregularly or discontinued treatment prematurely and quite a few patients required other types of treatment besides chemotherapy, such as surgical treatment and physiotherap