Classification of Leprosy Disease | Treatment of Leprosy Disease

Leprosy Disease:

Leprosy disease is a chronic infection caused by the acid-fast bacillus Mycobacterium large. It mainly affects the superficial tissue especially the skin and peripheral nerve. Classification of leprosy disease is very important for its proper treatment. Misclassification increases the rate of relapse due to insufficient treatment if a Multibacillary patient is treated as a Paucibacillary patient. Effective treatment is available for leprosy treatment that is available and free of cost at all health care facilities.

Classification of Leprosy:     

Leprosy disease is mainly classified for proper treatment includes the number of skin lesions and nerve involvement. It can be classified based on clinical manifestations and skin smear results.

According to the purpose of treatment:

1. Paucibacillary Leprosy:

There will be 1 to 5 skin lesions and only one nerve involvement. The patient will present a definite loss of sensation and the skin smear test is negative at all sites.

2. Multibacillary Leprosy:

There will be more than five skin lesions and 2 or more nerve involvement. The present may or may not lose the sensation and the skin smear test is positive at any site.

According to clinical classification:

1. Tuberculosis (TT),
2. Borderline Tuberculoid (BT),
3. Mid Borderline (BB),
4. Borderline Lepromatous (BL),
5. Lepromatous (LL),
6. Neural leprosy: It is an unusual type of leprosy that only affects the nerve without any skin changes.

Treatment of Leprosy Disease:

The key factor of leprosy disease treatment is early detection and starts enough treatment as soon as possible. That will help to prevent the debilitating of the patient. Several drugs are used to treat leprosy that is known as multidrug therapy (MDT). Single-dose never uses as treatment of leprosy disease.

• Rifampicin,
• Clofazimine,
• Dapsone,
• Fluoroquinolone,
• Macrolides and Minocycline,
• Ofloxacin,
• Azithromycin.

To control inflammation also prescribed-

• Prednisone,
• Aspirin,
• Thalidomide.

Multidrug Therapy Treatment for Leprosy Disease:

Multidrug therapy is recommended for leprosy disease treatment as the primary drug (Dapsone) has become resistant. Dapsone prevents the formation of folic acid, thereby inhibiting the organism’s replication. Rifampicin and Clofazimine are the two most common additional drugs to treat leprosy. Those three drugs are taken orally can be administered on an outpatient basis under monthly supervision. Dose and duration of treatment vary according to the stage of the disease and whether the patient is an adult or child.

Multidrug Therapy (MDT) Plan Recommended by WHO:

Surgical Treatment of Leprosy Disease: 

Beside multidrug therapy some surgical treatments are available for leprosy patients those are pointed below:

1. Fascicular dissection: Drainage of acute nerve abscesses and fascicular dissection can reduce pressure on nerves and can improve sensation.
2. Longitudinal Epineurotomy: It helps to reduce pressure, allows restoration of Intraneuronal blood flow of the Carpal Tunnel.
3. Z-plastic: It helps to improve the functional and cosmetic appearance of leprosy scars.
4. Tarsorrhaphy: It is a surgical procedure to help narrow the upper and lower eyelids to partially close the eye.
5. Canthoplasty: Reduce sagging of the eyelids.
6. Nasal reconstruction.
7. Removal of excess skin.
8. Replacement of eyebrow.
9. Amputation: It is the last resort and reserved for cases of extremely damaged tissue.

Maria Mona

Maria Khatun Mona is a Founder and Editor of Nursing Exercise Blog. She is a Nursing and Midwifery Expert. Currently she is working as a Registered Nurse at Evercare Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She has great passion in writing different articles on Nursing and Midwifery. Mail her at “maria.mona023@gmail.com”