Leprosy Today

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease chiefly involving the skin and peripheral nerves (and nasal mucosa in lepromatous disease), and Mycobacterium leprae is the etiologic agent. The association of chronic skin disease with anesthesia or hypesthesia should always suggest leprosy. The form of the disease varies along a spectrum from the lepromatous to the tuberculoid. The lepromatous form is extensive and diffuse, with many bacilli present. The tuberculoid form is often limited to a single skin lesion, but nerve involvement may be severe. The chief (or sole) source of new infections is the untreated or ineffectively treated patient with multibacillary . . .