Leprosy : Prevention and Control Measures Case Detection and Treatment
Leprosy is caused by mycobacterium leprae. Mycobacterium leprae is not probably as communicable as M. tuberculosis. However, the portal of entry is believed to be through the nasal route, skin to skin contact and, only those untreated patients with multibacillary leprosy are infectious discharging the bacilli through nasal and untreated nodules. Mycobacterium leprae has a very long multiplication time and the majority of the population has strong immunity, therefore it requires a prolonged exposure to acquire the disease.
Persons living close to mycobacterium case needs to be examined for leprosy. Because leprosy has long incubation period, most patients are asymptomatic at early stage of the disease. Thus it is important to create awareness at leprosy through health education for early diagnosis and
treatment.
Epidemiology
The disease usually occurs in persons who live in endemic areas, including Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Also at risk are those people with a long term exposure and frequent close contact with leprosy patients.
Today, a great majority of the global leprosy burden is concentrated in certain limited geographical areas, with the top 11 endemic countries representing 90% of the prevalence and detection worldwide. In Ethiopia, the prevalence of leprosy is 0.8 per 10,000 populations.
Prevention and control measures Case detection and treatment
Multidrug therapy (MDT) rapidly reduces the infectivity of known patients, but it has not yet demonstrated that it is able to prevent new cases from occurring in the community, perhaps because of previous exposure except that BCG vaccination helps in preventing tubrculoid form of leprosy
Prevention of disability and rehabilitation
Activities aimed at preventing impairment and disability in leprosy patients are important and depend on a good relationship between health worker and patient.
Regular health education on eye, hand, and foot care helps to reduce secondary infection. In order to prevent disability, early detection of cases is a high priority, however, early detection and treatment with MDT will not prevent all nerve function impairment. Therefore, patients should be regularly examined and awared, so that reactions and new nerve function impairment can be detected and treated appropriately. In addition there should be no restriction from school or work for people with leprosy to avoid stigmatization.
Thanks For Visiting ! Keep Your Healthy !
0 comments:
Post a Comment