It is important to add pain management to leprosy treatment protocols. This can reduce the challenges that patients face. Read on.
Leprosy, commonly known as Hansen's sickness, is a condition that has existed for thousands of years. Despite great attempts to eradicate leprosy, the disease continues to harm 250,000 new people each year. While its frequency has significantly decreased in recent decades, leprosy remains a public health issue in underdeveloped nations like India.
Leprosy is a chronic illness caused by Mycobacterium leprae that affects primarily the skin and peripheral nerves. Leprosy is most often transmitted person to person by nasal secretions from untreated individuals. Leprosy nerve damage causes motor, sensory, and autonomic abnormalities, as well as deformities (claw hands, drop foot) and secondary impairments (plantar ulcers, finger and toe contractures).
The Overlooked Challenge Of Chronic Pain In Leprosy Since leprosy causes profound sensory loss, there has been little attention dedicated to pain in leprosy patients, with the notion that pain cannot arise in these people. Chronic pain in leprosy, on the other hand, arises during or after multidrug therapy. Various pathogenetic mechanisms for neuropathic pain in leprosy have been proposed, including an inflammatory reaction on peripheral nerves (neuritis), nerve hypertrophy, entrapment and fibrosis, and peripheral and central sensitisation.
Leprosy is a stigmatising illness and it is worth noting that psy.