Leprosy: Modern Facts About an Ancient Disease

Leprosy; also known as Hansen's disease is a chronic infectious disease that is caused by the bacterium called Mycobacterium leprae. This family of bacterium is the same one that causes tuberculosis. The bacterium grows slowly and affects mainly the skin, nerves, and mucous membranes. Although not as common, Mycobacterium leprae may also affect the eyes, muscles, bones, and testes. Leprosy has been one of the world's most feared diseases for a very long time. This is due to the fact that if it goes untreated, Leprosy can cause severe disfigurement, especially in the hands and feet, however; leprosy is rarely fatal.

According to emedtv.com, the cause of leprosy was first discovered by a Norwegian scientist named Gerhard Armauer Hansen in 1873. Since then, there has been a lot of progress in treating leprosy without too much trouble. This has helped to alleviate people's fear of the disease.

The bacterium that causes leprosy is unlike most bacterium that causes diseases in humans. It differs in that is thrives in cooler areas rather than warmer ones. This is the reason that leprosy tends to affect the surface areas of the body where the bacterium is able to stay cooler. In the early stages of leprosy, the main symptom is skin lesions that are light in color and have often lost any sensation of feeling. People suffering from leprosy may also develop enlarged nerves near the joints, such as the wrist, elbow, and knee. These enlarged nerves can cause tenderness that can be felt on the skin's surface.

According to encarta.msn.com, there are two main kinds of leprosy; tuberculoid and lepromatous disease. In tuberculoid leprosy, there are few, small skin lesions, and only a few bacterium are present. In lepromatous leprosy, skin lesions are more widespread and there are many bacteria present. As this disease progresses, hard knots and skin folds may begin to form on the face and the nose may actually collapse. This gives the person the appearance the lion-like appearance that is commonly associated with the disease.

The symptoms that are caused by leprosy may be caused by the spread of the bacteria that are in lepromatous leprosy or by the way the body's immune system responds to the bacteria in tuberculoid leprosy. Regardless of the type of leprosy, there is normally some level of permanent nerve damage. It is common for people with leprosy to suffer from burns to the hands and feet that they do not feel due to the lack of sensation in these areas. The damaged areas of the body often become infected because they have gone unnoticed and untreated. The result is the damaged tissue and bone being reabsorbed to into the body and causing the fingers and toes to become shorter. Nerve damage may also cause the fingers and toes to become stiff and to curl inward, or contract. When this happens, some people with leprosy lose the ability to walk. Another possible complication of both forms of leprosy is blindness.

Leprosy can occur at any age, however; it is very rare to see a case in a person who is under a year old. Approximately 20% of leprosy cases occur in children under the age of 10 years. In children, leprosy occurs equally in both boys and girls, but in adults, it is twice as common in men as it is in women. According to encarta.msn.com, leprosy is no longer widespread as it was at one time. Now, leprosy is found mostly in tropical regions. With effective treatments and programs to help completely rid the world of leprosy, there are far fewer cases than there once were; by the year 2007, there were less than 260,000 new cases of leprosy reported throughout the world and there are less than 7,000 cases that are registered in the United States. Of the 7,000 registered cases in the United States, 150 of them were reported in 2006. The majority of the reported cases in the United States are immigrant patients who acquired the disease in their home country.

Looking back into history, we can see that leprosy has been believed to be a highly contagious disease, thus; feared by most people. It was believed that leprosy could be passed from one person to another by imply touching a person who is suffering from the disease. Today, we know that leprosy is not easily contracted; what we do not know is exactly how it is passed from one person to another. We also do not know why some people with the Mycobacterium leprae do not develop leprosy while other people with the bacteria do. It would appear that some people's immune system fights off the infection easier than others, but the question as to why, remains a mystery. Those who develop leprosy do not generally have weaker immune system, nor are they more likely to develop cancer or other diseases.

The bacterium that causes leprosy is believed to be a fairly weak disease-causing bacterium. It multiplies every two weeks unlike the bacterium that is closely related and causes tuberculosis which multiplies every 24 hours. Due to the slow rate of development, a person may go 2 to 10 years without developing symptoms once they become infected.

Treatment for leprosy currently consists of three antibiotics that all work together to fight off infection. Those antibiotics are dapsone, rifampin, and clofazamine. The antibiotics have to be continuously taken for a long period of time; 6 months for tuberculoid leprosy and 2 years for lepromatous leprosy. This multiple antibiotic treatment has proven to be much more effective than taking only one. It also helps prevent the chances of a drug-resistant strain of leprosy from developing, stop the progression of leprosy, and help stop the chances of leprosy being passed on from on person to another. Treatment cannot repair any damage or disfigurement that has been done to the body or nervous system.

Treatment for leprosy can cause severe side effects due to the large amount of the bacterium being killed and broken down within the body. This process can result in inflammation in the body which can cause further nerve damage if left untreated with an anti-inflammatory medication. Some patients experience painful sores on the skin while being treated due to the body's immune response to the death and breakdown of such a large quantity of bacteria. This side effect is known as ENL or erythematic nodosum leprous and can be effectively treated with thalidomide. The thalidomide helps to heal the painful sores on the skin and relieves the inflammation that accompanies them.

To prevent the spread of leprosy, scientists and doctors feel that the best solution is to treat the current cases effectively. It is also believed that a test needs to be developed to help detect leprosy bacterium in a person before symptoms begin to appear. Early detection would enable early treatment. Another possible solution is the development of a vaccine. The tuberculosis vaccine that is currently available seems to offer some protection from leprosy even though it is not always effective against tuberculosis. Eventually, scientists hope to develop a more effective tuberculosis vaccine that will also help protect against leprosy, they are also continually trying to develop a vaccine that is directed specifically to the prevention of leprosy.

Leprosy is an ancient disease that scientist are continually trying to understand. Due to the diligence of scientists and researchers, more effective treatments have been developed, and continual studies are being done to try to completely eradicate leprosy throughout the world. Even though many of the myths about leprosy have been proven wrong, there are still many people who still place the old stigma on those who have the disease. In some countries, a person who develops leprosy is made to move out of the home and often ends up living on the streets or in the slums of the bigger cities. There were even places in the United States that people with leprosy were sent for treatment. These leprosaria are now closed, but there are still some patients who live in the buildings to this day.

Through effective treatment, study, and informing the public about leprosy, the hope is to one day find not only a cure, but also a way to stop the development of leprosy all together. Until then, scientists will continue unraveling the mystery of leprosy.

　
Information in this article was obtained from the following sources:

http://encarta.msn.com/text_761578788__0/Leprosy.html

http://diseases.emedtv.com/leprosy/leprosy.html