Download Leprosy - WordPress.com

MAY
VIEWER
CONTAIN
DISCRETION
DISTURBING
IS ADVISED
IMAGES
LEPROSY
Takumi Ohashi
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
Multibacillary
leprosy
Paucibacillary
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