Abstract
Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is a chronic infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The organism replicates slowly damaging skin and nerves as the infection progresses. Tuberculoid (paucibacillary) and lepromatous (multibacillary) leprosy represent the opposite ends of a broad spectrum of disease with varying clinical manifestations. Left untreated, lepromatous leprosy leads to significant, often irreversible nerve damage with subsequent disability. The infection itself is not highly contagious, despite clear biblical references suggesting otherwise. Early diagnosis and treatment intervention greatly reduce the serious morbidity that is associated with advanced disease. Recommended antibiotic treatment regimens are different for tuberculoid and lepromatous leprosy, but both forms are curable.
Despite the availability of effective antibiotic treatment regimens, the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies leprosy as a neglected tropical disease because of the high frequency of delayed diagnosis and suspected high frequency of underdiagnosis. Challenges that complicate the diagnosis of leprosy include the complex social and cultural history of the disease, inadequate physician awareness of the variety of clinical presentations and pathological findings, and difficulty in distinguishing it from more prevalent diseases with similar presentations.
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Harris, M.A., Domachowske, J. (2019). Leprosy. In: Domachowske, J. (eds) Introduction to Clinical Infectious Diseases. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91080-2_38
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91080-2_38
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