Causes, Symptoms and Cure of Leprosy
Learn all about leprosy and its cure
Leprosy is a disease caused by the bacillus bacteria, which is related to the same bacillus that causes tuberculosis. Leprosy has been known as a terrible disease since ancient times. In the Bible, disease has been mentioned many times in both the Old and New Testaments.
Leprosy is a contagious infectious disease and is noticeable in its later stages when meat begins to rot. People with leprosy in biblical times were feared and forced to live in special isolated colonies to prevent entire towns and cities from becoming infected with the disease.
The bacterium that causes leprosy, bacillus mycobacterium leprae, infects the skin, attacking both the skin and peripheral nerves. The disease itself does not cause meat to rot, however, as the disease progresses and an infected person develops disfiguring skin sores that damage peripheral nerves, the victim may lose feeling in their hands and feet. .
When this happens, a person can injure that limb and not feel any pain, so they don’t notice the injury. As the injury is not noticed, it becomes infected and gangrene occurs, so the meat begins to rot.
leprosy symptoms
1. A red spot that may be darker or lighter than the victim’s skin is the first and earliest sign of leprosy. The bacteria that cause leprosy can incubate in the body for quite some time before this symptom appears. The usual incubation period can range from three to five years.
2. Lesions will appear in various parts of the body that will lose sensitivity to touch, pain or heat. These lesions will also be lighter in color than normal skin color.
3. Lesions that do not heal for weeks or even months.
4. Numbness in the arms, hands, legs or feet, since the leprosy bacillus attacks the peripheral nerves of the extremities.
5. Muscle weakness can also be a symptom of leprosy.
The social effects of leprosy were harsher in the past than now. In the Middle Ages and earlier, for example, leprosy was a dreaded disease and people who were infected with leprosy were forcibly removed from society and placed in special leper colonies where they were left to die.
In the time of Christ, lepers were also isolated from society and if lepers traveled they had to wear a bell to warn others to stay away.
In the Middle Ages, there was more understanding of diseases in general and some treatments for leprosy were tried, but in general, society was still very afraid of the disease.
Many hospitals and doctors who depended on charity and benefits from their communities refused to treat lepers, and lepers were often forced to leave their communities. The disease divided couples, families and destroyed marriages. In fact, in medieval Western Europe, the Roman Catholic Church allowed canonical divorce for those whose spouse was infected with leprosy.
A medieval treatment for leprosy was triaca, which was a mixture of viper meat and other ingredients and was believed to cure leprosy. Mercury was also believed to be used to cure not only leprosy, but other diseases as well.
Today’s treatments, however, are much more effective. Like all bacterial infections, leprosy can be effectively treated with antibiotics. However, most antibiotics are not strong enough to treat bacillus mycobacterium leprae, because this bacterium, like its cousin that causes tuberculosis, can be resistant to most antibiotics.
For this reason, stronger antimicrobial drugs are often used to treat leprosy. Some of the antimicrobial treatments used to treat leprosy include:
1. Sulphones in the form of oral dapsone are usually the first treatment used to treat the disease. This drug, however, can have some serious side effects. Some of these side effects include hepatitis, exfoliative dermatitis, and hypersensitivity reactions. If this happens, the sulfone treatment should be stopped immediately.
2. Rifampin with a combination of clofazimine and ethionamide may be an alternative treatment for leprosy if sulfone treatment fails.
3. Surgical correction or amputation may be required to treat some of the more serious symptoms of leprosy, such as clawed hand or wrist or drop foot. In these cases, the affected extremities could already be necrotic and may even have gangrene and would need to be removed.
Leprosy is a serious disease and your body may react to the bacteria killed during the course of the treatments mentioned above.
How is leprosy transmitted?
Leprosy is an infectious disease that is contagious, but it is not as contagious as other airborne infections, such as the common cold or the flu. There are several ways leprosy is transmitted, listed below.
1. Household contact is the most common transmission of the disease. If someone in your family has leprosy, you may get it from that person through sharing eating utensils or drinking glasses, as well as through sexual contact and kissing.
2. Inhaling the bacteria by sitting next to someone who is infected with leprosy is another way the disease can be spread.
3. Bites from insects that carry the bacillus mycobacterium leprae is another possible way of contracting leprosy.
4. The nasal mucous membranes can also carry the bacteria that cause leprosy. In fact, the bacillus mycobacterium leprae can live in nasal fluids for up to 36 hours.
Theoretically, leprosy usually infects a person once, but older people with weaker immune systems can be re-infected with leprosy.
Currently, the Center for Infectious Disease Research along with the American Leprosy Missions have an aggressive campaign to reduce or even eradicate leprosy. Currently, American Leprosy Missions has its “Deliver the Cure” program, which is a charitable program to help children suffering from leprosy.
Leprosy is rare in the United States, however, if you plan to travel to Africa, Latin America, or parts of Asia, you may come across areas where leprosy is prevalent and you may want to take precautions. When traveling to these areas, you should check with the US Department of State or other organizations to find out what diseases may be a problem and what vaccinations you may need to travel to these countries.
