Leprosy
Leprosy history and disease background
Leprosy (leprosy) is an infectious disease that affects the skin and the peripheral nervous system of a person. The disease of leprosy is considered one of the most ancient diseases, the mention of which is found in the Old Testament. In those days, those with leprosy were considered "unclean." Healthy people shied away from them, they were persecuted and deprived of the right to a normal life. The peak incidence of leprosy falls on the 12-14th centuries, when the infection affected the population of almost all European countries.
To combat leprosy, medieval Aesculapius used numerous leper colony - institutions that were engaged in identifying and treating lepers. Initially, patients with leprosy were located on the territory of monasteries, where they were allocated houses and plots for agricultural activities. In fact, the unfortunate people lived on a kind of reservations and did not have the opportunity to communicate with the rest of the world. However, then the isolation of patients with leprosy was fully justified and bore fruit. By the 16th century, leprosy had left Europe. For some time, isolated cases of the disease were recorded on the territory of the Mediterranean coast and Scandinavia, but it never came to large-scale epidemics.
Today we know almost everything about leprosy. Contrary to popular belief, the infection is not transmitted by simply touching the patient and does not always lead to death. It is known that leprosy disease threatens only 5-7% of people, and the rest of the inhabitants of the Earth have a strong immunological protection against the pathogen. As for the method of transmission. In most cases, prolonged direct skin contact is required for infection. There is also a theory that leprosy, the symptoms of which can appear even 10 years after the lesion, enters the body by inhaling bacteria secreted from the mouth or nasal cavity of a sick person. Perhaps it is this assumption that partly explains the fact that today there are about 11 million registered patients with leprosy in the world, and many of them have not had any skin contact with infected people.
What Causes Leprosy?
Leprosy disease is caused by rod-shaped microorganisms - Mycobacterium leprae. They were discovered in 1874 by the scientist G. Hansen. These microorganisms have properties close to tuberculosis, but do not have the ability to multiply in nutrient media and often do not manifest themselves in anything for many years. Suffice it to say that the incubation period of the disease is often 15-20 years, which is due to the characteristic features of leprosy. By itself, it is not capable of causing tissue necrosis. This means that the activity of microorganisms must be activated by some external factors, for example, secondary bacterial infection, unhealthy diet, polluted water or poor living conditions.
A long incubation and no less long latency period often lead to the fact that the diagnosis of leprosy begins too late, since doctors experience objective problems with the early diagnosis of the disease.
Currently, specialists know two forms of leprosy:
- lepromatous - the causative agent acts mainly on the skin;
- tuberculoid - for the most part, the disease affects the peripheral nervous system.
A borderline form of leprosy is also distinguished, which tends to develop into one of the two main types of the disease.
Leprosy symptoms
The tuberculoid form has the following characteristic symptoms of leprosy:
- the appearance of a well-defined spot, which gradually increases in size;
- absence of hair follicles and sweat glands on the affected skin surface;
- thickened nerves are clearly felt near the spot;
- amyotrophy;
- the formation of neurotrophic ulcers on the soles;
- contractures of the hands and feet.
As the disease of leprosy progresses, the symptoms of the disease also increase. Over time, patients develop phalangeal mutations, corneal ulcers and other lesions of the facial nerve, leading to blindness.
Lepromatous leprosy manifests itself as extensive skin lesions in the form of plaques, papules, spots and nodules. As a rule, such formations occur on the face, ears, elbows, wrists and buttocks. Very often, leprosy is accompanied by loss of eyebrows. For the later stages of the disease, the distortion of facial features, proliferation of earlobes, nosebleeds, and shortness of breath are characteristic. People with leprosy also suffer from laryngitis, hoarseness and keratitis. Infiltration of pathogens into the testicular tissue leads to infertility in men.
Leprosy treatment
For several centuries, haulmugr oil has been used against the disease of leprosy, however, modern medicine has much more effective means, in particular, sulfone drugs. They do not belong to specific therapeutic agents, but they can stop the development of infection and have a general strengthening effect on the body.
In milder forms of the disease, cure occurs within 2-3 years. A severe course of leprosy increases this period to 7-8 years. We also add that strains of mite bacteria that are resistant to dapsone (the main drug used in modern medicine) have recently been discovered, therefore, in recent years, sulfamic drugs have been used in combination with other drugs. For example, in the lepromatous type of infection, clofamizine is widely used.
Of course, the researchers are not going to be satisfied with what has already been achieved and are looking for more effective ways to combat leprosy, which will shorten the duration of treatment and reduce the severity of symptoms in seriously ill patients.
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The information is generalized and provided for informational purposes only. At the first sign of illness, see your doctor. Self-medication is hazardous to health!
