Leprosy

DEFINITION

• Leprosy is a disease that has been known since biblical times. 
• This infectious disease causes skin sores, nerve damage, and muscle weakness that gets worse over time.

CAUSE

• Leprosy is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. 
• It is not very contagious
• It has a long incubation period (time before symptoms appear), which makes it hard to know where or when someone caught the disease. 
• Children are more likely than adults to get the disease.

Leprosy has two common forms:  tuberculoid and lepromatous.

• Both forms produce sores on the skin
• The lepromatous form is most severe. 
• It causes large lumps and bumps (nodules).
• Effective medications exist. Isolating people with this disease in "leper colonies" is not needed.

• Drug-resistant Mycobacterium leprae and an increased numbers of cases worldwide have led to global concern about this disease.

Symptoms

• Skin lesions that are lighter than your normal skin color
• Lesions have decreased sensation to touch, heat, or pain
• Lesions do not heal after several weeks to months
• Muscle weakness
• Numbness or lack of feeling in the hands, arms, feet, and leg

Exam and Test

• Lepromin skin test can be used to tell the two different forms of leprosy apart, but it is not used to diagnose the disease
• Skin lesion biopsy
• Skin scraping examination

Prevention

• Prevention consists of avoiding close physical contact with untreated people. 
• People on long-term medication become noninfectious (they do not transmit the organism that causes the disease).

References : LEPROSY