cher@ihlpm.UUCP (cherepov) (10/05/85)
-- In every aids-dedicated talk somebody is bound to say "we (they) are treated like lepers..... Which makes me wonder. How frequent were leprosy cases lately? Any cure/vaccination breakthroughs? My for all I know the only way people were battling leprosy was isolation of afflicted. Any attempts of cure were ending very sadly for the good docs for last 10000 yrs or so. Does anyone have a more detailed picture? Mike Cherepov
cher@ihlpm.UUCP (cherepov) (10/05/85)
> -- > My for all I know the only way people were battling leprosy was > isolation of afflicted. Any attempts of cure were ending very > sadly for the good docs for last 10000 yrs or so. > Does anyone have a more detailed picture? > Mike Cherepov The after I posted this I caught a PBS show about leprosy epidemic handling in Nepal. Which made me wish I was more careful (and better informed). Somewhat advanced-stage leprosy patients are given multi-drug treatments that halt the disease advancement and in many cases comlpetely cure it. As far as I can recall the 3 drugs are to fight bacteria, treat nervous system, and cure lesions. No vaccine has yet been found, but it seems that with introduction of better hygiene leprosy will be gone. Oh, well, Long live the good docs.. ashamed Mike Cherepov
sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (10/06/85)
> Which makes me wonder. How frequent were leprosy cases lately? > Any cure/vaccination breakthroughs? > My for all I know the only way people were battling leprosy was > isolation of afflicted. Any attempts of cure were ending very > sadly for the good docs for last 10000 yrs or so. > Does anyone have a more detailed picture? Last week, the excellent PBS series, "Search for the Killers", was devoted to the treatment of leprosy. If you can find it being repeated in the next few days, by all means watch it, for it answers most of your questions. There is also a companion book of the same name, which I haven't read. Briefly, leprosy is endemic to many equatorial regions, and it is estimated that 12 to 20 million people throughout the world have the disease, with 2000 or so known cases in the US. Leprosy is about as curable as tuberculosis is these days, which means an individual has an excellent chance of 100% cure. Like TB (both diseases are caused by mycobacteria), the drug regimen has to last about two years. Most of the deformities which we associate with leprosy come from its effects on peripheral nerves (claw hand) and the anesthesia (and accidental damage) associated with them. Early leprosy isn't disfiguring and prompt drug treatment can prevent such 'marks of Cain.' A Trivial Pursuit fact: thalidomide, the infamous sleeping pill of the 1960's which caused such severe birth defects, is useful in treating some of the disfiguring reactions of the body to the lepra bacilli. It is very difficult to "catch" leprosy; only about 5% of those exposed to the bacilli develop the disease. It seems one has to have a particular immunological deficiency (and that DOESN'T mean late nights at the disco and poor nutrition). The show detailed some promising methods of increasing a susceptible individual's immunoreactivity to lepra bacilli using a variety of vaccine-like materials. It wasn't clear to me from the show that these studies were more than very early research; that is, there isn't a vaccine available yet. -- /Steve Dyer {harvard,seismo}!bbnccv!bbncc5!sdyer sdyer@bbncc5.ARPA
usenet@ucbvax.ARPA (USENET News Administration) (10/06/85)
I had beggars with leprosy approach me in India. It was a little frightening.