Leprosy

**Leprosy Symptoms By: Brandon Bellin**
Leprosy is a virus that attacks the skin and peripheral nerves. Leprosy can take on average three to five years to fully develop and cause symptoms. This three to five years is known as th "Leprosy Incubation Period" and it ranges from months to over ten years. Leprosy mainly affects the skin. It can cause hands and feet to go numb and when your feet and hands are numb, you can get hurt and not know. When you get hurt and you don't it, it can get seriously infected. Leprosy can cause patches or spots on your skin and even kill senses in your hand. [] []

Leprosy Locations
Leprosy can be found in warm, wet, tropical places. Leprosy can be found in places all over the world. Most commonly in India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Brazil and Nigeria. It is said that there are about 5.5 million cases world-wide and about 80% of those people are found in the countries above. Leprosy can affect preteen around the ages 10 to 14 and adults about 35 to 44. Leprosy is virtually non-existent in new-borns and younger children. []

=The History of Leprosy By: Gabby Every= The first possible account of leprosy is believed to be in an Egyptian Papyrus document wrote at about 1550 B.C..

Way back in history people thought leprosy was a curse or punishment. People that had this disease were shunned and treated very different because it was very misunderstood among people. Some had to wear different clothes, ring bells to warn people of their presence, and take other precautions. Even now, many people with leprosy must stay in different hospitals because of how people view this disease.

Leprosy was discovered by Dr. Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen of Norway in 1873.He actually identified the organism/germ //Mycobacterium leprae,// which causes leprosy, under a microscope. This proved that this disease is caused by a germ and that it __was not__ hereditary, from a curse, or from sin.

[[image:bacterialandviraldiseases/Mycobacterium-leprae3.jpg width="194" height="143" align="right" caption="The leprosy causing Mycobacterium leprae"]]
** Leprosy treatment over time ** Over time there have been many different attempts at finding and creating a cure for leprosy. (20th century) -the way to treat leprosy was to inject the patients with chaulmoogra nut oil. 1941- Leprosy was treated with Promin, but painful injections were necessary. 1950s- the next treatment was dapsone pills, but then //Mycobacterium leprae// formed a resistance to dapsone. 1970- the next and most successful treatment is the multidrug MDT. This drug may have to be taken 6 months or more.

One outbreak of leprosy was during the High Middle Ages (around 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries) in Western Europe. A more recent outbreak was in 2002 when the disease had reached 763,917 new people/cases.
 * Outbreaks of Leprosy**


 * FAST FACTS:**
 * 1.** Ancient skeletons with evidence of leprosy in/on them was one indication that leprosy was an active disease back then.
 * 2.** Because of how many people negatively viewed leprosy, people with leprosy were pushed into settlements called leper colonies. But, luckily now most are not there or are normal communities.

For more information on the history of leprosy click [|here] and [|here] For more information on the Mycobacterium Leprae Disease click [|here] =Cure/Treatment and Prevention of Leprosy By: Colin Harkin= Prevention of Leprosy: There is no specific medicine that can prevent leprosy. The only thing to do about it is to recognize leprosy in early stages so you can get treatment before it does too much damage. You can also get an eraly diagnosis to minimize or even completely avoid damage from leprosy. So, while leprosy prevention is not always possible, control is possible.Click here for more information on prevention of Leprosy: [|Prevention of Leprosy]

Treatment of Leprosy: Leprosy can usually be cured with antibiotics. Leprosy treatment is not always immediate, depending on the type of the disease. Tuberculoid Leprosy can take up to 1 year to heal while lepromatous can take up to 2 years to heal. If you recognize Leprosy in the early stages of it, you can minimize or avoid Leprosy symptoms completely. Again, it is very important to recognize Leprosy early before it does alot of damage.For more information on treating Leprosy click here: [|Treating Leprosy]

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=How Leprosy transmitted By: Morgan Senogles=

Scientists are still trying to understand how leprosy is transmitted, but they believe it is transmitted from person to person by infected respiratory droplets. Also they believe it is transmitted from environmental conditions, the degree of susceptibility of the person, and the extent of exposure. Scientists do know though that it can’t be transmitted from mother to unborn baby and through sexual contact. [|http://rarediseases.about.com/cs/infectiousdisease/a/071203.htm]

How it infects the host
The hands and feet get attacked by the organism mycobacterium leprae. That organism attacks the nerves in both feet and hands, then causing both to go numb. If they receive cuts and burns on the numb parts it can lead to infections then that can become permanent damage. The fingers and toes then have a possibility to fall off from infections. If the infection gets to be serious then amputation of the hands and feet can take place. The mycobacterium leprae also can affect the eye by attacking the nerve then causing the host of a blinking loss. By not being able to blink, it can no longer protect the eye from injury and moisturize the surface. Then the eye of the host will dry up, become infected and possibly go blind. When the eye is numb, the host can’t feel debris in or scrapes on the eye. For the hosts face, internal lining damage causes scarring and eventual collapsing of the nose. [|Leprosy]

This is a photo of Leprosy affecting the thigh, as you can see the mycobacterium leprae is starting to take over.

How it affects the host
The growth in a host is affected because when the mycobacterium leprae attacks the body and becomes infected the growth then slows down and stops. Then the infections get worse and possibility loss of body parts may occur.

= Recources = = = “History of Leprosy.” //Stanford.edu//. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. [].

“Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) History of the Disease.” //Niaid.nih.gov//. N.p., 8 Feb. 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. . = = //Mycobacterium Leprae Disease//. N.d. //Human-healths.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. [].

Schoenstadt, Arthur. //eMedTV//. Arthur Schoenstadt, MD, 31 Oct. 2006. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. []. //About.com-Rare Diseases//.

Mary Kugler, 16 May 2009. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. [].

Which countries is leprosy found in today? N.d. Leprosymission.org. N.p,n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. < [] what-is-leprosy.html>.

Schoenstadt, Arthur. "Prevention of Leprosy." //MedTV//. N.p., 30 Oct. 2006. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. .

- - -. "Treatment of Leprosy." //MedTV//. N.p., 7 Mar. 2009. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. .

// Leprosy Treatment //. N.d. //Google//. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.

"High Middle Ages." //Wikipedia//. N.p., 24 Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.

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"Leprosy." //Wikipedia//. N.p., 23 Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. [].

"The History of Leprosy." //IlEP//. ILEP, 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. [].