Leprosy

Leprosy was feared as a highly contagious disease earlier, but it has become apparent that the disease does not spread easily and it is treatable. Leprosy is caused by slow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. The disease can affect nerves of hands and feet, skin, eyes and the lining of the nose. At the end of the study, an analysis of the leprosy symptoms in context to India and leprosy meaning could be comprehended.

What are Leprosy and its causes?

Leprosy is essentially an infection caused by bacteria that slowly grow on the skin, nerves, eyes and the lining of the nose. The reason behind the spreading of leprosy is not clear to the doctors. It has been observed that the disease is not severely contagious which implies that the disease cannot spread from being exposed to the patient. Therefore, the disease does not spread by merely touching the leprosy patient. The disease spreads when the patient coughs or sneezes and as a result, the droplets containing the bacteria are released into the air. Mostly, leprosy can spread with repeated and long-term contact with someone that has acquired leprosy. In India, every year about 120,000 to 130,000 leprosy cases are being reported. Individuals with an extremely weak immune system, for instance, whose immune system is damaged by chronic diseases such as HIV, AIDS, are most prone to developing the disease. The rate of death in the case of leprosy is 0.1%, hence it can be easily countered because of the availability of cost-effective treatment.

Symptoms of Leprosy

The symptoms of leprosy become apparent at a concerning slow pace even after being infected with the bacteria. The symptoms do not appear for at least a year, in some cases, it takes 5-7 years. Primarily, the leprosy symptoms may include sores, lesions, lumps, and bumps on the skin. In the case of leprosy, the skin lesions do not show any indication of healing even after several months of medication. In some cases, the lesions are flat, and in other cases, these are elevated. The limps and bumps developed on the skin of the patient inevitably become disfiguring. Another concerning symptom of this disease is the skin of the affected area becomes numb. It happens because the disease causes nerve damage under the skin of the affected area. As a result, the patient loses the ability to feel pain or temperature in the affected areas of the body. In addition to this, the patient feels muscle weakness as well. 

Treatment of Leprosy

Proper treatment of the disease is essential because when left untreated the patient may face permanent nerve damage. It is important to note that even after treatment; the nerve damage cannot be reversed. Leprosy patients are treated with a combination of antibiotics that can kill the specific bacteria. Therefore, the treatment falls under a multidrug treatment which includes dapsone with rifampicin and clofazimine. In India, Multi-Drug Therapy (MDP) is usually used to treat patients. As in cases where Leprosy was attempted to be treated using one drug, the patients very quickly grew resistant to the same and became more difficult to treat. Hence multidrug therapy tries to use a scientifically experimented and proven combination of drugs to treat patients. The patient is asked to continue the medication depending upon the severity of the disease. The duration of the treatment may continue from six months to two years. The doctor must be informed when the symptoms of skin patches or nerve damage become worse, or the patient develops a fever. It indicates that the patient requires more intensive treatment. The best way to prevent the further spread of leprosy is early diagnosis and proper treatment of the infected individual.

The current state of Leprosy in India

The Government of India had launched the National Leprosy Control Program (NLCP) in 1954-1955. In 1983, the Government of India Also introduced the National Leprosy Eradication Program (NLEP) to fight the disease. The strategy of NLEP was to reduce the quantum of infection and reduce the source of infection to break the chain of disease transmission. Despite being free of Leprosy, India still faces leprosy as a public health concern because of the stigma associated with it. Leprosy cases continue to haunt the country as 135,485 new cases were detected in India during 2016-2017 and 88166 cases were recorded in March 2017. In India, 34 states and one Union Territory achieved the status of being leprosy-free. Therefore, one state and another Union Territory of India are yet to achieve the status. In March 2020, the prevalence rate of this disease was about 0.57/10,000 in the population.

Conclusion

There have been enhanced efforts to prevent and eliminate Leprosy all over the world and in India specifically. The best effort identified in treating the disease as early as possible will essentially be helpful to prevent the further spread of  Leprosy symptoms. India has exhibited true potential in being completely free from a specific disease. The pre-existing fear about the degree of contagiousness related to the disease has to be eradicated with proper and adequate knowledge. Interventions from the Indian Government will be assisting in achieving a leprosy free population.