This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Hansen's disease

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Leprosy is a chronic inflammatory disease which is caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It is characterised by a variety of clinical features, the best known of which is the peripheral nerve damage leading to chronic problems with loss of pain sensation resulting in unnoticed damage to tissues.

Multidrug treatment of leprosy since the early 1980s has had a profound effect on the prevalence and incidence of the condition worldwide. The number of patients declined from an estimated 12 million in 1985, to 2.4 million in 1995. However leprosy continues to be a challenge to health worldwide, with about 250,000 new cases being detected every year (1)

  • Leprosy, also known as Hansen Disease, is a gradually progressive infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, an acid-fast obligate intracellular bacterium
    • is endemic in tropical and subtropical areas, with the highest prevalence in India, followed by Brazil
    • Leprosy has a broad spectrum of clinical presentations that are dependent on the host immune response, ranging from a single macular lesion to widespread nodules and plaques
      • also a spectrum from minimal involvement of the peripheral nervous system to significant hypoesthesia and other neurological deficits may be present
      • M. leprae has a predilection for cool areas of the body, explaining the tendency of leprosy lesions to occur on the extremities, nose, and ears

Iin countries where leprosy is non-endemic, diagnosis is frequently delayed and patients may present to multiple specialists before obtaining the correct diagnosis (2)

Reference:


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page