Understanding Leprosy

By Graham M

What is Leprosy?
Leprosy is an infectious disease that attacks the nervous system Leprosy is caused by a type of bacteria called Microbacterium Leprae

What can leprosy do to people?

Leprosy attacks the cooler areas of the body Leprosy destroys neurons in these areas, taking feeling away from them Leprosy also causes cartilage in those areas to get absorbed back into the body, causing fingers, toes, ears and noses to disappear Leprosy also causes large bumps in the skin that do not feel pain and do not heal

What are the types of leprosy?

Lepromatous: damages respiration, eyes, and skin Tuberculoid: affects nerves in fingers and toes, and surrounding skin Borderline: has effects of both types

What are the signs and symptoms?

Large bumps on the skin that do not feel pain Large bumps on the skin that do not heal for weeks or months Muscle weakness Disappearance of eyebrows or eyelashes

How can you avoid getting leprosy?

To avoid Contracting leprosy, avoid close contact with someone who has untreated leprosy

Is there a cure?
Yes! Leprosy is curable with MDT (multidrug therapy) Treatments include taking Dapsone and Clofimine together

Statistics:
3Every year, between 200,000 and 400,000 new cases of Leprosy are detected 3In 2005, 296,000 new cases of leprosy were detected
3 70%of those were found in India

History of Leprosy:
The bacteria that causes Leprosy, (mycrobacterium Leprae) was discovered by Gerhard Hansen in 1873 Leprosy was known since ancient times, but no one knew what it was or what caused it

Interesting Facts:
Since Leprosy attacks the eyes, people with Leprosy eventually lose the blink reflex
Because of this, their eyes are scratched by dirt and dust, and they eventually go blind

To solve this problem, doctors trained patients to blink on schedule using a timer In some cases, however, the muscle that makes the eye blink is disabled as well
Doctors solved this problem by connecting a string from the jaw to the eyelid. That way, when you open your mouth, your eyes close

More Interesting Facts:

In the 1940s having leprosy was considered a criminal offense
People with leprosy could be hunted down and shipped off to remote islands where they could spend the rest of their lives in solitude

At one point, Patients in Kalawao,Hawaii who were about to be shipped off could request a re-diagnosis
It turned out that ten out of eleven people who requested a re-diagnosis did not have leprosy after all

How can Leprosy affect your life?

In the first stages of Leprosy, peoples lives are not very
affected, but eventually, people lose their fingers and toes and become disfigured Not only are the victims of Leprosy physically disabled, but emotionally as well
People with leprosy are generally rejected from society and forced to live on their own.

In the later stages of leprosy, people lose their sight, as

well as most of the feeling in their body Life is very hard for people with untreated leprosy

How the Human Body is Affected by leprosy

Nerve Nerve is damaged and broken by Leprosy infection leprosy infection. Large bumps (legions) on the skin that do not heel and cannot feel pain.

Information for this graph taken from the world health organization website. (for exact details, refer to bibliography)

Decline in Leprosy cases 1985-1997

Number of Cases (thousands)
6000

4000

2000

1985 1997

1989

1993

Conclusion
Fortunately, modern medicine has cured most of the world of Leprosy People with Leprosy are being more accepted by communities around the world Leprosy still Remains a problem in undeveloped countries
The World Health Organization is putting a stop to this If they reach their goal, Leprosy should be eliminated from the world within 20 years

Bibliography:
www.nytimes.com/2006/books/review/22roack.html New York Times website Date visited:11-30-06 John Tayman -The Colony Lisa Drew Books Copyright 2006 www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs101/en/ World Health Organization website. Date visited:12-12-06 www.curtis1.com Curts Human Disease website Date Visited: 12-8-06 Karen Donnely -Leprosy The Rosen Publishing Group Copyright 2002 http://www.who.int/infectious-diseasereport/pages/graph19.html World Health Organization website Date visited:12-12-06