About Leprosy

Leprosy (or Hansen’s disease), is an infectious bacterial disease in which involvement of the skin and nerves may lead to disfigurement and blindness.   The words lepra and lepros are thought to be derived from liber – bark of a tree – and refer to scaling skin diseases, possibly psoriasis, fungal infections or skin tuberculosis. So in fact mentions of leprosy in ancient times and in the bible could actually sometimes have been referring to TB.   TB and Leprosy have a number of other similarities:

• both diseases are more likely to affect poor people and those on the margins of society 
• both diseases are caused by members of the same group of bacteria, known as mycobacteria.  TB is airborne, and it is possible that Leprosy is too, rather than being spread by touch as was previously thought.  However there is as yet no conclusive proof
• both diseases require a mix of drugs taken over a prolonged period (some of the same drugs are used to treat both)
• control of both diseases has been hampered by stigmatising attitudes in society

Because of this, many organisations in developing countries have combined TB and Leprosy programmes.