Leprosy: Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention

What is Leprosy?

Leprosy (also called Hansen’s Disease) is an infectious and contagious disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae. This disease is progressive in nature and primarily affects your skin, nerves, eyes, and mucous membranes. If left untreated for a long time, the disease is advanced stages can cause paralysis, vision loss, disfigurement, and disability.

The main symptoms of leprosy include skin lesions, muscle weakness, and numbness in arms, hands, legs, and feet. Even though the occurrence of this disease is quite rare in modern times, it still affects thousands of individuals across the world. As per WHO’s statistics, approximately 208,000 people around the globe are suffering from leprosy.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis for leprosy is done clinically and it may require laboratory-based services in cases that are difficult to diagnose. Getting an early diagnosis can help speed the treatment process. The disease can be recognized by appearance of skin patches that may look lighter or darker than the normal skin. Sometimes, the affected area may also be reddish.

To confirm the diagnosis, the healthcare practitioner will perform a skin biopsy. During this procedure they will take a small tissue sample and send it to lab for analysis.

Some health care providers may also suggest serological tests as a part of the leprosy diagnosis process.

Treatment

Leprosy is a curable disease that can be treated with a combination of antibiotics. Typically, 2 or 3 antibiotics are used at the same time and this is called multidrug therapy. This strategy helps to prevent the development of antibiotic resistance by the bacteria, which can otherwise occur due to length of the treatment. Make sure you tell your doctor if you experience any numbness in certain parts of body or in skin patches. Also, let the doctor know if affected skin becomes red and painful, nerves become painful or swollen, or you develop fever as this may require more intensive treatment with medicines.

The treatment plan usually lasts between 1 to 2 years, and the illness can be cured if the treatment is completed as prescribed. While the treatment can cure the disease and prevent it from worsening, it does not reverse nerve damage or physical disfigurement which has occurred before diagnosis. Thus, it is important that the disease is diagnosed as early as possible.

Prevention

While the chances of getting this disease are low, there are things which you can do to minimize your risk. This includes avoiding prolonged close contact with an individual suffering from leprosy and who is not receiving treatment. It is the best possible way for leprosy prevention.