LEPROSY

Takumi Ohashi

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED

MAY CONTAIN

DISTURBING IMAGES

What is it?• Leprosy is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and

Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Infected patients do not feel nor see any symptoms or immediate changes to their bodies from the initial infection but takes up to 5 – 20 years for the bacteria to develop. When developed, it can cause discoloration and lumps on the skin and in severe cases, disfigurement or deformities of the body.

Symptoms• Disfiguring skin sores, lumps or bumps that refuses to go away

after several weeks or months may signify the possibilities of leprosy.

• Leprosy-causing bacteria may also cause nerve damage such as the inability to feel pain or muscle weakness.

• Leprosy can also affect eyesight

Types

Paucibacillary leprosy

Multibacillary leprosy

Tuberculoid Lepromatous “Borderline”

Transmission• Somewhat still a mystery to the medicinal world, transmission

of Leprosy is still an unknown procedure/not entirely confirmed

• Most logical explanation is the contact between a healthy person and a person carrying leprosy

• Recently, the possibility of transmission is thought to be through the respiratory route, in other words, people breathe these bacteria in

Patient’s Experience• “At first, I didn’t even realise that I have contracted leprosy and it was

very hard to tell if I came into contact that might cause the disease. Just one day, I suddenly felt a little itchy and uncomfortable only to notice myself covered in many small red lumps. This then further escalated to having the lumps grow in size and I felt extremely weak and incapable of moving. My wife called the doctors to check up on me and to run a few medical examinations. It turned out that I had Lepromatous Leprosy and I immediately had to take several medications. After a year or so, I was well again and felt extremely lucky that I was treated early before it developed into a much more worse stage.” – Pasawat Mookjai

Treatment• “Dapsone, which is bacteriostatic or weakly bactericidal

against M. leprae, was the mainstay treatment for leprosy for many years until widespread resistant strains appeared. Combination therapy has become essential to slow or prevent the development of resistance. Rifampicin is now combined with dapsone to treat paucibacillary leprosy. Rifampicin and clofazimine are now combined with dapsone to treat multibacillary leprosy.” – World Health Organization method of treatment against patients with Leprosy