Leprosy Essay -- Hansens Disease Health Medical Essays

LeprosyLeprosy (Hansens Disease), sometimes called Hanseniasis or H.D., is a inveterate my cobacterial distemper of man, caused by Mycobacterium leprae (infectious in some cases), primarily change the peripheral nerves and secondarily involving scramble and certain other tissues/organs, in particular the eye, mucosa of the nasal and upper respiratory tract and in any case the testes. In most cultures, HD still carries a strong stigma that sometimes makes more trouble for the patient that the actual leprosy itself. One of the main characteristics of Leprosy is its susceptibility to affect the various nervous placements of the trunk, particularly the peripheral nerves. The key targets of M.leprae (Mycobacterium leprae) ar the nerves Schwann Cells. Leprosy does not affect the Central Nervous System. Where the sensory nerves ar damaged, in varying degrees, they cannot register pain. Where those nerves supply the extremities of hands and feet, the last mentioned are vulnerable t o burns and other injuries that can a great deal dissolver in the loss of fingers and toes and sometimes hands and feet. Where the eye is affected, corneal anesthesia. cranial Nerve involvement, can often lead to blindness, where the lack of health command makes the sufferer unaware of the means to prevent injury due to trunk or other irritants. Where the motor nerves are involved, various forms of paralysis such as Dropped Foot, Dropped Wrist, Clawed Hand, Lagophthalmos (eye cannot completion due to nerve paralysis) can result. Where the autonomic nerves are damaged, the sensory hair follicle, particularly in the cooler areas such as the eye-brows, can often result in the loss of hair in the affected parts. wrongfulness to the autonomic nerves also can result in unforesightful or no function of the sweat and sebaceous glands. This causes a drying of the skin and consequent cracking, exposing the sufferer to secondary infection. Leprosy is not a curse from the gods or divin e punishment for some sins committed in the past. Leprosy is a disease like any other disease and it is TOTALLY CURABLE. Another novel that still prevails, even in educated societies, is that the disease causes flesh to putrefy and fingers and toes to drop off. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tragically, limbs that are damaged, because the dupe cannot feel pain, sometimes have to be amputated only, we can now light upon the disease before the patient is conscio... ... dissolves the germ by certain chemicals or enzymes. The second type of protective mechanism is specific and the bodys defense system can only recognize a foreign invader if it has image in this identification of certain antigens. In Lepromatous patients, their macrophages can ingest the M.leprae but cannot digest (kill) because there are no T-Type (T for Thymus, the gland that programs these cells) lymphocytes to economic aid the macrophages to produce the needful digestive juices or enzymes. So, in the case of Lepromatous leprosy, the truly cells that are meant to kill off the bacilli, are actually transporting them around the body and providing an environment in which they may even be able to multiply. At the present time though, leprosy cannot be prevented. Research on a prophylactic vaccine, however, is slowly progressing. This vaccine bequeath be used the same track we use vaccines of Smallpox, Typhoid, Cholera, Plaque, and etc. A vaccine of killed or weakened leprosy bacilli will be used to protect everyone from the disease. Already, a vaccine of killed leprosy bacilli has been used to immunize mice and armadillos against leprosy. Millions people will need to receive MDT.