Leprosy 2
Leprosy 2Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease of human beings that primarily affects the skin, mucous membranes and peripheral nerves. It is a disease that has existed for thousands of years, however, the formal discovery of the leprosy bacillus Mycobacterium leprae was not until 1874. Norwegian physician Gerhard Henrik Armaeur Hansen was the first to formally identify the bacillus, and in his recognition, leprosy is also referred to Hansen's disease.
Leprosy is a disease that poorly understood by many health care professionals. Although there is some knowledge of the mechanism, transmission, and treatment of the disease, there are many questions that still remain. The following paper attempts to provide some background information on what is known about leprosy and then attempts to investigate certain aspects of the disease that are unknown. A description of the classification, mechanism of infection, transmission, distribution, and treatment of the disease will be provided. After reviewing the background material, a great deal of questions may arise as to how exactly this disease is spread from person to person and what conditions promote infection. For example, one may wish to investigate the following:
1) Mycobacterium leprae as yet to be cultured in laboratory media? Why?
2) Why is leprosy so prevalent in some parts of the world (i.e. India) but not in others?
3) How does leprosy become so widespread in a population?
4) Despite the discovery of drug treatments, why are over million people still infected?
5) Is there a genetic predisposition to leprosy?
6) Are there non-human sources for the disease?
7) Is there a vaccination for leprosy?
These are just a few of the many issues currently under examination. Over the years, the use of modern molecular and immunological tools has become a valuable method in revealing what is known to date about the disease. However, until the epidemiology of the disease is completely understood, effective control and prevention of leprosy can be difficult.
Classification of Leprosy
Leprosy is classified according to symptoms and histopathology (abnormalities of tissue cells affected by the disease). Patients with leprosy are classified into two general groups: those diagnosed as having paucibacillary leprosy possess five or fewer skin lesions and those diagnosed with multibacillary leprosy have six or more skin lesions. The disease can be further classified on the basis of skin findings, motor and sensory changes, and biopsy findings as indeterminate (I), tuberculoid (T), borderline tuberculoid (BT), borderline (BB), borderline lepromatous (BL), and lepramtous (LL). Under the WHO classification, I, TT, and BT diseases are generally equivalent to paucibacillary leprosy while, BB, BL, and LL are equivalent to multibacillary disease (Jacobson & Krahenbuhl, 1999). Leprosy is classified according to a continuum with indeterminate being the earliest stage of the disease and lepramtous as the most advanced stage. Usually the disease is first diagnosed when a few or single macules (a patch of skin that is altered in color but usually...
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