Leprosy cases go up 70% in a year in city, more children affected

COIMBATORE: Though the World Health Organization has certified that leprosy has been eliminated in the state, the number of cases went up by 70% last year in the district.
While 108 cases were detected in 2012-13, 185 cases were reported in 2013-14. In most cases, the patients did not come into direct contact with a person with leprosy.
“The prevalence rate of leprosy in Coimbatore is 0.31 per 10,000 people,” said Dr Palanisamy, deputy director (leprosy) with the public health department.
Data submitted to the National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP) by the public health department shows that of the 185 new cases, 18 were children under the age of 14. Four had suffered ‘grade two’ disability or advanced disability. At least 101 persons had multi-bacillary leprosy. Multi-bacillary leprosy, a condition where around five lesions can be seen on the body, is twice as infectious as pauci-bacillary or single lesion leprosy.
“We see seven to eight new cases a month. People come with skin patches or body pain, which turns out to be leprosy,” said a dermatologist at Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital.
Most of the patients have no family history of the disease. “More than 90% of leprosy infected patients do not have relatives with the disease,” said Dr G R Rathnavelu of Stanley Medical College and Hospital in Chennai. “They might have had the bad luck of inhaling of Mycobacterium leprae, the bacteria that spreads leprosy when their immunity was low,” he added.
A survey by German Leprosy Relief Association (GLRA) shows there 335 people with leprosy in the district. “Almost 66 cases are within the corporation limits. The rest come from Thudiyalur, Pooluvampatty, Karamadai, Sundakkamuthur and Arisipalayam,” said Jesudas from GLRA.
Doctors insist that the numbers are not perturbing because leprosy is not contagious. “Leprosy is 100% curable and complications such as losing a digit are rare,” said Dr Rathnavelu.
“Early detection is important because you don’t suffer noticeable changes. The treatment includes tablets for six months or a year,” he said. “The number of new cases coming with deformities, which occur due to late detection or neglect of symptoms, is less than 0.5%.”