- It is produced by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae and can take between 5 and 20 years to manifest itself.
- World Leprosy Day is commemorated on the last Sunday of January each year.
- This disease was discovered in 1873 by the Norwegian physician Gerhard A. Hansen.
One of the many challenges facing the Mexican health system is to eradicate leprosy. Despite the efforts, it is a bacterial disease that remains present, especially in Sinaloa, Michoacán, Nayarit, Nuevo León and Guerrero. All the entities mentioned concentrate 60 percent of the total cases, according to the National Center for Preventive Programs and Disease Control.
Therefore, we must focus on them regardless of whether they are remote regions. It is necessary to bring treatments to patients and information for populations, says the academic of the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology of the Faculty of Medicine of the UNAMMaria del Rosario Morales Espinosa.
“Leprosy exists. It is a fact that it has not been removed and will not be removed as long as it is ignored. For this reason, awareness campaigns are required to explain to society that it is a curable condition like any other infectious disease”.
The specialist adds that this disease has not been eliminated in the country because It impacts marginalized and poor populations, it is also endemic and not epidemic. Similarly, the emergence of other diseases such as Covid-19 have complicated the panorama because they have downplayed its importance.
According to Health Institute for Wellness (Insabi), in 24 countries of the American continent cases are reported, some with more than 100 per year, indicate data from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Among those nations are: Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Brazil. The latter accounts for 94 percent of the cases in the region.
In the World Health Organization (WHO) it is hoped that there is one infected person for every 10,000 inhabitants. There are situations in which, in effect, the affected population is minimal, but there are regions that have more cases than should be registered.
How is the disease transmitted?
Leprosy, explains the university expert, is produced by the Mycobacterium leprae bacterium, of slow replication. It is an infectious disease that can take between five and 20 years to manifest itself.
Although its incidence is low, it is a disease that is forgotten, despite the fact that it produces stigma and discrimination for the sick person.
“That has been a problem that leprosy patients have faced throughout human history. In Biblical times they had to bring a bell with them and ring it to warn the rest of the population that they were going to pass, so that they would move away”.
Later, leper colonies were established where patients were abandoned to their fate, in subhuman conditions, where they faced the deformities caused by the disease, without receiving help, recalls the specialist.
There are statistics that indicate that leprosy affects men more than women, in a ratio of two to one. As it is a long-term infection, it is registered in young adults, although the deformations manifest themselves at older ages.
Its diagnosis is difficult
The transmission mechanism of the bacteria is not well defined. It is believed to occur when a person inhales saliva droplets from someone infected and by being in direct and prolonged contact with the patient. Even so, there is a host susceptibility, because there can be 10 people in the same conditions and not all of them get infected, but only the most susceptible.
According to the expert, the symptoms are not clear either and therefore the diagnosis is difficult. A sign can be any dermatological lesion that appears as single, hypopigmented or reddish, with raised edges, etc.
For this reason, the doctor must be attentive to the appearance of any type of stain on the trunk, hands, buttocks or face; Observe it and ask the patient if he feels the contact of the object with which the examination is carried out. If not, it could be an indication of leprosy.
Based on this suspicion, studies are carried out to establish a correct diagnosis: clinical, histopathology, basiloscopy and immune reaction, among others.
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