leprosy

(noun)

Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis.

Related Terms

Examples of leprosy in the following topics:

  • Leprosy

    • There are many kinds of leprosy, but there are common symptoms, including:
    • Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis are the causative agents of leprosy.
    • Studies have shown that leprosy can be transmitted to humans through contact with armadillos, too.
    • Leprosy is not known to be either sexually transmitted or highly infectious after treatment.
    • Describe the causative agents of leprosy: Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis

  • Antimycobacterial Antibiotics

    • The types of pathogens considered to be mycobacterium include Mycobacterium tuberculosis (tuberculosis) and Mycobacterium leprae (leprosy).
    • For treatment of leprosy, caused by Mycobacterium leprae, the traditional antimycobacterial drugs include promin (the first treatment introduced to fight leprosy) and dapsone (which eventually become obsolete as Mycobacterium leprae quickly evolved resistance).
    • However, the use of these multidrug treatments was costly and only adopted in endemic countries when the World Health Assembly passed a resolution to eliminate leprosy in 1991.

  • Special Culture Techniques

    • For example, armadillos are often used in the study of leprosy.
    • They are particularly susceptible due to their unusually low body temperature, which is hospitable to the leprosy bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae.
    • The leprosy bacterium is difficult to culture and armadillos have a body temperature of 34°C, similar to human skin.
    • Likewise, humans can acquire a leprosy infection from armadillos by handling them or consuming armadillo meat.

  • Type IV (Delayed Cell-Mediated) Reactions

    • Other examples include: temporal arteritis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, symptoms of leprosy, symptoms of tuberculosis, coeliac disease, graft-versus-host disease and chronic transplant rejection.

  • Koch and Pure Culture

    • By using his methods, Koch's pupils found the organisms responsible for diphtheria, typhoid, pneumonia, gonorrhoea, cerebrospinal meningitis, leprosy, bubonic plague, tetanus, and syphilis.

  • Ecological Associations Among Microorganisms

    • Pathogenic bacteria are a major cause of human death and disease and cause infections such as tetanus, typhoid fever, diphtheria, syphilis, cholera, foodborne illness, leprosy, and tuberculosis.