Hansen's bacillus is the cause of leprosy.
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Hansen's bacillus , whose scientific name is Mycobacterium leprae . It is characterized by nervous and skin symptoms, with the appearance of spots, tubercles and ulcers.
Two types of leprosy can be distinguished: tuberculoid leprosy produces spots that become anesthetic, while lepromatous leprosy is characterized by large nodules known as lepromas.
Characteristics of leprosy
Leprosy can cause tissue destruction, deformation and mutilation of the patient. There are drugs and corticosteroids to treat the disease, while surgical intervention may be an option to prevent deformities.
The only way to prevent leprosy is to avoid close physical contact with patients who are not receiving treatment. Frequent hand washing is also recommended. It should be noted that affected subjects who are receiving medication do not transmit the disease in the long term.
The first symptoms of leprosy usually appear 4 to 8 years after exposure to the bacteria and include numbness in the extremities, the appearance of nodules, skin pain, and nasal congestion. Leprosy can be diagnosed from a biopsy .
Leprosy causes mutilations and deformations.
a stigma
Throughout history, leprosy has been a stigma for those who have suffered from it. In ancient times, lepers were excluded from society and locked up in leprosariums; Regardless of the moral issues involved in such an arrest, today it is known that it was an extreme and unnecessary measure since leprosy is a disease of very low transmissibility when treated correctly.
Beyond the abusive nature of the old treatments, leprosy shamed its sufferers with its terrible mutilations, and condemned them to certain death. The oldest evidence of this disease dates back at least four millennia, according to the discovery of remains of a young man who appears to have died without having received any kind of cure. Previously, the skeleton of a leprosy victim had been found in Egypt two hundred years BC.
The condemnation of those who suffered from leprosy
The leprosariums were extremely deep and wide pits, connected to natural caves in which the sick had to spend 24 hours a day. In those caves their small shelters were set up. When a person contracted leprosy, they were taken to this place of isolation , saying goodbye forever to their loved ones, who were in charge of providing food.
This was done using a gear system (similar to an elevator but much more rustic) on which supplies were raised and lowered, without having to come into direct contact with the infected. It is important to highlight that entry to these centers was prohibited: they were living tombs, where no type of treatment was offered, which allowed the plague to spread more quickly and nullified any possibility of recovery .
Treatments throughout history
Regarding its treatment, throughout history different methods have been tried, ranging from religious practices to the application of gynocandia oil , which began to be used in the early 1900s, through injections, and which enjoyed of great acceptance for some time. In the late 1930s, medicine began to experiment with the use of dapsone (an antibiotic taken orally and also used to combat dermatitis); Its success was moderate, given the appearance of strains of leprosy that resisted it.
It was only in 1980 that science took great steps in the battle against leprosy, when it began to treat it through the use of various medications at the same time . Currently, dapsone and rifampicin are applied simultaneously , in daily doses, with variants that include the interruption of dapsone when fever appears, in which case it is replaced by clofazimine. It is worth mentioning that it is recommended to maintain this treatment for a minimum of six months and an estimated maximum of two years, depending on the case.