Leprosy - a chronic infectious disease caused by a Mycobacterium leprae. The disease mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosa of the upper respiratory tract and the eyes. M. leprae multiplies very slowly and the incubation period of the disease is about five years. Symptoms can appear only after 20 years.
Leprosy is a curable disease, and when to begin treatment in the early stages, you can avoid disability.
Since 1995, the World Health Organization offers a leprosy free and effective treatment.
Leprosy today
Diagnose and treat leprosy today is easy enough, and in most endemic countries are taking measures to implement the relevant services in the local health care system. This is especially important for the most disadvantaged communities, whose members are most at risk of leprosy - often the poorest of the poor.
According to official reports received from 121 countries, in 2008, there were 249,007 new cases of leprosy. The number of new cases compared to 2007 decreased by 9126 (4%).
The most endemic are still some areas of Angola, Brazil, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nepal and the United Republic of Tanzania. In these countries, taking active measures to combat the disease.
Brief history: the disease and treatment
Leprosy was known in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, China and India. The first written mention of leprosy is dated 600 BC. e. Throughout history, the patients have often been ostracized by their communities and families.
While in the past there were many different ways to treat leprosy, the first breakthrough in this area occurred in the 1940s with the advent of the drug dapsone. Treatment with this drug lasted for many years or even a lifetime, which is why patients could be difficult to pass the course of treatment. In the 1960s, M. leprae started to develop resistance to dapsone, the world's only protivoleproznomu drug at the time. In the early 1960s it was discovered rifampicin and clofazimine - drugs that today, along with others, used to treat leprosy.
In 1981, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended for the treatment of leprosy, a combination of three drugs: dapsone, rifampicin and clofazimine.
Since 1995, those in endemic regions, these drugs are distributed free of charge.
Causes and risk factors
Leprosy - not a very contagious disease, and because of the long incubation period, it is difficult to understand where and when a person was infected. Children infected with leprosy more frequently than adults.
There are two main types of leprosy - tuberculoid and lepromatous, the last of them - the most serious.
Today there are effective drugs for leprosy and isolation of people with this disease in "leper colonies" is not needed - the emergence of such colonies was due, rather, with prejudice than with the pressing need. Infection leprosy occurs only in close physical contact with infected. People who are being treated for leprosy, for a long time, are non-communicable.
Symptoms
- Skin lesions that look brighter than healthy skin;
- The affected areas of the skin less sensitive to touch, heat, or pain;
- Damage to the skin does not heal within a few weeks or months;
- Muscle weakness;
- Numbness or decreased sensation in extremities.
Complications
Leprosy complications can become severe disfigurement, muscle weakness, permanent nerve damage in hands and feet, loss of feeling.