Leprosy

Leprosy is an infectious disease that causes severe, disfiguring skin sores and nerve damage in the arms, legs, and skin areas around the body. This disease has been around since ancient times, often surrounded by terrifying and negative stigmas.
However, leprosy is actually not that contagious. You can catch it only if you come into close and repeated contact with nose and mouth droplets from someone with untreated leprosy. Children are more likely to get leprosy than adults.
Today, about 180,000 people worldwide are infected with leprosy, according to the World Health Organization, most of them in Africa and Asia. About 100 people are diagnosed with leprosy in the U.S. every year, mostly in the South, California, Hawaii, and some U.S. territories.
Leprosy is caused by a slow-growing type of bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. Leprosy is also known as Hansen's disease. Leprosy primarily affects the skin and the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, called the peripheral nerves. It may also strike the eyes and the thin tissue lining the inside of the nose.
The main symptom of leprosy is disfiguring skin sores, lumps, or bumps that do not go away after several weeks or months. The skin sores are pale-colored.Nerve damage can lead to:Loss of feeling in the arms and legs and Muscle weakness. It usually takes about 3 to 5 years for symptoms to appear after coming into contact with the leprosy-causing bacteria. Some people do not develop symptoms until 20 years later. The time between contact with the bacteria and the appearance of symptoms is called the incubation period. Leprosy's long incubation period makes it very difficult for doctors to determine when and where a person with leprosy got infected.
Leprosy is defined by the number and type of skin sores you have. Specific symptoms and treatment depend on the type of leprosy you have. The types are:
Tuberculoid. A mild, less severe form of leprosy. People with this type have only one or a few patches of flat, pale-colored skin.
Lepromatous. A more severe form of the disease. It has widespread skin bumps and rashes, numbness, and muscle weakness.
Borderline. People with this type of leprosy have symptoms of both the tuberculoid and lepromatous forms.
Without treatment, leprosy can permanently damage your skin, nerves, arms, legs, feet, and eyes. Because of this disease there may occur many complications like:  blindness, Disfiguration of the face including permanent swelling, bumps, and lumps, permanent damage to the inside of the nose, which can lead to nosebleeds and a chronic, stuffy nose,permanent damage to the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, including those in the arms, legs, and feet.
The person who is suffering from this particular disease should take preventions like:  treatment with appropriate antibiotics, regular health check ups, avoiding physical contact with people.
The person should be provided proper education and self-care support, monitoring the condition and its symptoms on an on-going basis and referring severe , managing day-to-day injuries etc.

By : Teena Thakur

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