Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's Disease is a chronic infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. Leprosy can be treated effectively with several drugs, but if left untreated, the disease can result in severe disfigurement, especially of the feet, hands, and face. It is rarely fatal.
Leprosy has long been one of the most feared diseases worldwide. The stigma attached to leprosy has often caused those who contracted the disease to be shunned by family, friends, and society.
Leprosy has two main forms, known as tuberculoid and lepromatous disease. In tuberculoid leprosy, the skin lesions are few and small, with only a few bacteria present in each. In lepromatous leprosy, the more severe form of the disease, the lesions may be much more widespread and contain many leprosy bacteria. As lepromatous leprosy progresses, hard nodules and folds of skin may form on the face and the nose may collapse, giving a person a characteristic lionlike appearance.
The symptoms of leprosy may be caused by proliferation of the bacteria in lepromatous leprosy or by the body’s immune response to the bacteria in tuberculoid leprosy. In both forms of leprosy, there is usually some degree of irreversible nerve damage resulting from either of these two processes. Because of the lack of sensation in affected areas of the skin, people with leprosy often do not notice burns and injuries to their fingers and toes and fail to treat them. These injuries can then become infected with other types of bacteria that cause tissue damage. Gradually, damaged tissue and bone are resorbed by the body, causing the digits to become shorter. However, leprosy does not, as myth would have it, cause parts of the body to fall off. Damage to nerves in the hands and feet may also cause the fingers and toes to become stiff and curl inward, and some patients become unable to walk. Both forms of the disease may also lead to blindness.
The first effective drug for treating leprosy, called promin, was developed in the mid-1940s. Within several years, painful daily promin injections were replaced with oral doses of a related drug, called dapsone. By the early 1980s, strains of the leprosy bacterium resistant to dapsone had become widespread, and multidrug therapy, a combination of several medications, became necessary to treat the disease. Three antibiotics, dapsone, rifampin, and clofazimine, are currently used to treat leprosy. The drugs must be taken for a long period, typically six months in cases of tuberculoid leprosy and two years for lepromatous leprosy. Treating leprosy using multidrug therapy is much more effective than using any one drug alone, and this treatment helps ensure that a drug-resistant form of the leprosy bacterium will not develop. These drugs cannot reverse the nerve damage and deformities of the hands, feet, and face that are characteristic of the disease. However, they can often halt the progression of the disease and help prevent it from being passed on to anyone else.
Leprosy has long been one of the most feared diseases worldwide. The stigma attached to leprosy has often caused those who contracted the disease to be shunned by family, friends, and society.
Leprosy has two main forms, known as tuberculoid and lepromatous disease. In tuberculoid leprosy, the skin lesions are few and small, with only a few bacteria present in each. In lepromatous leprosy, the more severe form of the disease, the lesions may be much more widespread and contain many leprosy bacteria. As lepromatous leprosy progresses, hard nodules and folds of skin may form on the face and the nose may collapse, giving a person a characteristic lionlike appearance.
The symptoms of leprosy may be caused by proliferation of the bacteria in lepromatous leprosy or by the body’s immune response to the bacteria in tuberculoid leprosy. In both forms of leprosy, there is usually some degree of irreversible nerve damage resulting from either of these two processes. Because of the lack of sensation in affected areas of the skin, people with leprosy often do not notice burns and injuries to their fingers and toes and fail to treat them. These injuries can then become infected with other types of bacteria that cause tissue damage. Gradually, damaged tissue and bone are resorbed by the body, causing the digits to become shorter. However, leprosy does not, as myth would have it, cause parts of the body to fall off. Damage to nerves in the hands and feet may also cause the fingers and toes to become stiff and curl inward, and some patients become unable to walk. Both forms of the disease may also lead to blindness.
The first effective drug for treating leprosy, called promin, was developed in the mid-1940s. Within several years, painful daily promin injections were replaced with oral doses of a related drug, called dapsone. By the early 1980s, strains of the leprosy bacterium resistant to dapsone had become widespread, and multidrug therapy, a combination of several medications, became necessary to treat the disease. Three antibiotics, dapsone, rifampin, and clofazimine, are currently used to treat leprosy. The drugs must be taken for a long period, typically six months in cases of tuberculoid leprosy and two years for lepromatous leprosy. Treating leprosy using multidrug therapy is much more effective than using any one drug alone, and this treatment helps ensure that a drug-resistant form of the leprosy bacterium will not develop. These drugs cannot reverse the nerve damage and deformities of the hands, feet, and face that are characteristic of the disease. However, they can often halt the progression of the disease and help prevent it from being passed on to anyone else.
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