leprosy / hansen's disease

we've all probably heard about leprosy at least once in our lifes but what is it? well that's why i'm here! i'll be going over the cause, treatment and stigma of leprosy. enjoy! :3


leprosy or hansen's disease (HD) is a long-term infection by Mycobacterium leprae/lepromatosis.
the infection can lead to damage in the nerves, skin, eyes and respiratory tract. the nerve damage may lead
to loss of nociception.they also may lose eyesight and experience muscle weakness.
the symptoms may begin within 1 year or 20 and more.
it is spread between people but only for excessive periods of contact. it has a low pathogenicity. there are two main types of leprosy: paucibacillary and multibacillary.
the former is one or more skin patches and the latter is more than five skin patches.
the diagnosis is confirmed by seeing acid-fast bacilli in the skin via a biopsy.

drug treatment
the most used medicine for leprosy is dapsone, rifampicin and clofazimine. which are all antibacterials duh. for paucibacillary the treatment duration is 6 months while for multibacillary it's 12 months. out of the 3 drugs, rifampicin is the most potent. it's dosed on a monthly schedule due to it's interference with dapsone by inducing its increased metabolism.
below is the course of therapy for leprosy


history / stigma

the norwegian physician Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen discovered M.leprae in 1873. at the time leprosy was believed to be spread via miasma or was hereditary. Hansen decided based on epidemiological reasons that leprosy was a communicable disease with a certain cause. he did not idetify it as bacteria he instead said that M.leprae was in the tissues of all the lepers.

the bacteria itself M.leprae has kept a similary violent genome over at least the past 1000 years. in medieval latin, a place of isolation and care for those with leprosy aka lepers was a leprosaria/leprosarium/leprosorium. in folklore kings have lost power if one became a leper. the introduction of leprosy in south europe put the blame on Alexander the Great and Pompy the Great. the disease seemed to reach the rest of europe in the late antiquity and early middle ages. there were several leprosoriums throughout europe and asia.

the first strain of leprosy was in asia, pacific region and east africa. the second strain in ethopia, malawi, nepal, north india and new caledonia. the third strain was in europe, north africa and the americas. last the fourth strain was in west africa and the caribbean.

in greek leprosy comes from lepos - skin and leperos - scaly man.