Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- INTRODUCTION
- TECHNIQUES IN DIAGNOSING DERMATOLOGIC MANIFESTATIONS OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
- PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT OF DERMATOLOGIC INFECTIONS IN THE SKIN
- PART 1 COMMON INFECTIONS
- PART II LESS COMMON INFECTIONS
- 4 CUTANEOUS TUBERCULOSIS
- 5 LEPROSY
- 6 ATYPICAL MYCOBACTERIA
- 7 ARTHROPOD-BORNE INFECTION
- 8 DEEP FUNGAL INFECTIONS
- 9 PARASITOLOGY
- PART III INFECTIONS IN SELECTED ECOSYSTEMS
- PART IV INFECTIONS IN SELECTED PATIENT POPULATIONS
- PART V INFECTIONS OF SPECIFIC SKIN-ASSOCIATED BODY SITES
- PART VI SPECIAL DISEASE CATEGORIES
- Index
5 - LEPROSY
from PART II - LESS COMMON INFECTIONS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- INTRODUCTION
- TECHNIQUES IN DIAGNOSING DERMATOLOGIC MANIFESTATIONS OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
- PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT OF DERMATOLOGIC INFECTIONS IN THE SKIN
- PART 1 COMMON INFECTIONS
- PART II LESS COMMON INFECTIONS
- 4 CUTANEOUS TUBERCULOSIS
- 5 LEPROSY
- 6 ATYPICAL MYCOBACTERIA
- 7 ARTHROPOD-BORNE INFECTION
- 8 DEEP FUNGAL INFECTIONS
- 9 PARASITOLOGY
- PART III INFECTIONS IN SELECTED ECOSYSTEMS
- PART IV INFECTIONS IN SELECTED PATIENT POPULATIONS
- PART V INFECTIONS OF SPECIFIC SKIN-ASSOCIATED BODY SITES
- PART VI SPECIAL DISEASE CATEGORIES
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
Leprosy, or Hansen's disease, is caused by the acid-fast, rod-like Mycobaterium leprae. Although effective treatment did not become available until the 1940s, the organism was discovered by Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen in 1873 and became the first bacterium known to cause disease in man. Since then, the dramatic, chronic, and debilitating consequences of the disease have been stigmatizing to those affected. Worldwide, it is still the most common cause of peripheral neuropathies, and is superseded in developed countries only by diabetes and alcoholism. Social containment and isolation are not just historical remnants, as those currently treated continue to face social challenges not only in the Third World but also in developed societies.
HISTORY
Hansen's disease has been reported as early as 1400 BC. Evidence of bone disease has been found in Egyptian mummies. During the 13th century, it became widespread in Europe, but it is still endemic in Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Italy.
Despite this fact, the early diagnosis and prevention of leprosy continues to escape health-care providers. In India, the Vedas included instructions for the prevention of leprosy, yet today we have been unable to identify cases early before neurologic and dermatologic sequelae ensue. Leprosy is still the main cause of peripheral neuropathies worldwide. As education programs become more prevalent and basic science evolves (the entire genome of Lepra is now sequenced), we hope that historical trends in incidence and disease progression will also change.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Skin InfectionsDiagnosis and Treatment, pp. 76 - 87Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009