Want this question answered?
Patients with MB leprosy are usually treated with all three drugs, while patients with PB leprosy are only given rifampin and dapsone.
In patients with LL leprosy, the bacilli are easily detected.
Some physicians have advocated dapsone treatment for people in close household contact with leprosy patients.
Although patients with leprosy are commonly thought not to suffer pain, neuroapthic pain caused by inflammation of peripheral nerve endings is increasingly recognized as a major complication of the disease in many patients.
Stump, P. R., R. Baccarelli, L. H. Marciano, et al. "Neuropathic Pain in Leprosy Patients." International Journal of Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases 72 (June 2004): 134-148.
Corticosteroids may be given to reduce the inflammation.
Leprosy patients should be aware that treatment itself can cause a potentially serious immune system response called a lepra reaction.
The Tichilesti leprosy was founded in 1875; now are only approx. 20 patients - they are not dangerous or contagious but they prefer to remain here. The last case of leper in Romania is from 1981. The decision is from sanitary authorities.
Physiotherapy exercises are taught to the patients to maintain a range of movement in finger joints and prevent the deformities from worsening.
leprosy
One of the hallmarks of leprosy is the presence of AFB in smears taken from the skin lesions, nasal scrapings, or tissue secretions.
About 50% of patients diagnosed with the disease have a history of close contact with an infected family member.