by Mimi Lu

Created on: November 26, 2007

Leprosy or Hansen's Disease, is a chronic infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. It once affected every continent and it left behind a terrifying image in history and human memory - of mutilation, rejection and exclusion from society. The total of all the sufferers of its incurable disfigurement and physical disabilities can never be calculated.

The origin of leprosy was most likely India and was distributed throughout the world by travelers, such as the Roman Legionnaires, Crusaders, Asian seafarers, and slave traders. The disease peaked in Western Europe between 1100 AD and 1300 AD, killing one third of its people but the prevalence gradually decreased as the living conditions improved.

Although leprosy was once a widespread disease, it is currently a disappearing syndrome and exists primarily in tropical regions. Due to effective treatment and leprosy eradication programs, the prevalence of the disease has declined dramatically in recent years with 95% of cases occurring in only eleven nations.

Even in our modern society, there still is no definite cure for leprosy, the main problems residing in the fact that scientists do not understand how the bacterium is transferred from one person to another and also, how to identify the people who are infected but have not yet developed the disease. Currently, three antibiotics dapsone, rifampin, and clofazimine are used to treat leprosy but they must be taken over a long period of time. This multi-drug therapy ensures that drug resistant forms of leprosy will not develop and prevents a spreading of the disease.

However, the damage caused by leprosy, the nerve damage and deformities of the face and the limbs can never be reversed. It seems that the only strategy for preventing the spread of leprosy is treatment of existing cases.

Tremendous efforts have been made to present leprosy as a disease that can be easily diagnosed and cured, as well as to break down the negative associations of the disease that persist. Over the course of the years, many support structures of leprosy have been initiated in a global effort to eradicate leprosy. In 1991, the World Health Organisation (WHO) launched a leprosy elimination program that made the multi-drug therapy available to leprosy patients all over the world.

A new strategy being launched on an international scale is based both on improved access to diagnosis and treatment and on transforming attitudes towards the disease and instilling the awareness that

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