Know about leprosy and its cure
Leprosy is a disease that is caused by bacillus bacteria, which can be linked to the same bacillus that causes tuberculosis. Leprosy has been called a terrible disease since early times. In the Bible, the disorder has been cited many times in both the Old and New Testaments.
Leprosy is a contagious infectious disease and is noticeable in its later phases as the flesh begins to rot. People with leprosy in Biblical times were feared and forced in particular isolated colonies to prevent whole villages and cities from being infected with the disease.
The leprosy causing bacteria, bacillus mycobacterium leprae, infects the skin and attacks both the skin and peripheral nerves. The disease itself does not cause the flesh to rot, however, as the disease progresses and an infected person begins having the disfiguring skin sores and damage to the peripheral nerves, the victim can lose feeling in hands and feet.
When this occurs, a person can injure that limb, not feel any pain, so doesn’t observe the injury. With the injury not being detected, it becomes contaminated and gangrene sets in-hence the flesh begins to rot. A red spot that could be either lighter or darker than the victim’s skin is your first and oldest sign of leprosy. The leprosy causing bacteria can incubate in the body for quite some time until this symptom appears. The usual incubation period can range from three to five decades. Lesions will appear on several different part of the body which will shed sensation to touch, heat or pain. These lesions will also be lighter in colour than the standard color of the skin. Lesions that don’t heal for weeks or even months.
4. Numbness in arms, hands, legs or feet, as the leprosy bacillus attack the peripheral nerves in the limbs.
5. Muscle weakness can also be a symptom of leprosy.
The societal effects of leprosy were harsher in the past than they are now. In the Middle Ages and before, by way of instance, leprosy was a dreaded disease and people who were infected with leprosy were forcibly removed from society and placed in particular leper colonies where they were left to die.
In the days of Christ, lepers were isolated from society and when lepers were traveling, they had to wear a bell to warn others to steer clear.
In the Middle Ages, there was more comprehension of diseases in general and some treatments for leprosy were attempted, but generally speaking, society was still very afraid of the disease.
Many hospitals and physicians who relied on charity and benefits from their communities refused to deal with lepers and lepers were often forced from their communities. The disease divided couples, families, and ruined marriages. In fact, in Western Europe, the Roman Catholic Church allowed to get a canonical divorce for those whose spouse was infected with leprosy.
One Medieval remedy for leprosy was theriac, which was a concoction of viper’s flesh and other ingredients and was widely thought to cure leprosy. Mercury was also believed to be used to cure not only leprosy, but other diseases also.
The treatments today, however, are a lot more effective. Like all bacterial infections, leprosy can be effectively treated with antibiotics. Most antibiotics, however, are not strong enough to treat the bacillus mycobacterium leprae, because this bacterium, like its cousin that causes tuberculosis, can be resistant to most antibiotics.
For this reason, stronger antimicrobial medications are frequently used to treat leprosy. Some of the antimicrobial treatments used to treat leprosy include: Sulfones in the shape of an oral dapsone is usually the first treatment used to treat the disease. Some of those side-affects include hepatitis, exfoliated dermatitis and hypersensitivity reactions. Should this happen, sulfone treatment should stop immediately. Rifampin with a combination of clofazimine and ethionamide can be an alternative treatment for leprosy if sulfone treatment doesn’t work.
3. Surgical correction or amputation may be required to treat some of the more acute signs of leprosy such as claw hand or wrist or foot drop. In these instances, the effected limbs could already be necrotic and might already have gangrene set in and would have to be removed.
Leprosy is a serious disease and your body could respond to dead bacteria during the course of the aforementioned treatments.
How is leprosy transmitted?
Leprosy is an infectious disease that’s contagious, but it is not as highly contagious as some other airborne ailments such as the common cold or the flu. There are numerous ways leprosy is transmitted, which are given below.
1. Household contact is the most common transmission of the disease. If someone in your family has leprosy, you could possible get it out of this person by sharing eating utensils or drinking glasses, in addition to sexual contact and kissing.
2. Inhaling the germs by sitting by somebody who is infected with leprosy is just another manner in which the disease could be transmitted.
3. Insect bites from insects that carry the bacillus mycobacterium leprae is another possible way that you can contract leprosy.
4. Nasal mucous membranes can also carry the bacteria that cause leprosy. In fact, the bacillus mycobacterium leprae can reside in nasal fluids around 36 hours.
Theoretically, leprosy usually infects a person once, but elderly people with weaker immune systems can be reinfected with leprosy.
Currently, the Infectious Disease Research Center with the American Leprosy Missions has an aggressive effort to curtail or even eliminate leprosy. Currently, the American Leprosy Missions has their”Deliver the Cure” program, which is a charitable program to assist children that are suffering from leprosy.
Leprosy is uncommon in the United States, however, if you plan to travel to Africa, Latin America, or some parts of Asia, you might encounter areas where leprosy is widespread and there you might want to take precautions. When traveling to these areas, you should check with the US State Department, Lake Worth Raccoon Removal or other organizations to find out what diseases can pose a problem and what vaccines you might need to travel to these countries.
Know about leprosy and its cure