For a long time, mankind has known about a terrible disease - leprosy. What is hidden under this word? To learn more, you should refer to special medical guides. In them, the disease can be found under different names: Crimean and Phoenician disease, leprosy. Others called her lazy death. In some countries, the disease was given the name Hansen (Hansen), St. Lazarus. This disease went down in history as a mournful death. Many of our contemporaries have heard its name. What does it mean?
general information
It was not for nothing that so many names were invented that were meant to denote the same disease - leprosy. What is hiding under this word, any modern doctor knows. Today, specialists know that this is an infectious disease. With it, the skin is affected first of all. The infection spreads to the mucous membranes, internal organs, affects the pathways of the nervous system. Pathology is caused by infection with mycobacteria leprosy. There are two types of infectious agents that can initiate the disease.
You can learn about the lesions from directories devoted to various diseases. What is leprosy, they are described in quite some detail. It is specified that the term refers to an infection that affects the skin. Among the mucous membranes, the pathways covering the respiratory tract are most susceptible. Nasal cavities, nasopharynx, and mouth suffer. The disease covers peripheral NS. It affects the nerve fibers, due to which the connection of the limbs and spinal elements is ensured.
How to notice?
You can also learn about the symptoms from special sources telling about this disease. What is leprosy, at present, very few people know from their own experience, but today there are known cases of the disease, so awareness of the aspects of symptoms will not be superfluous for anyone. Suspecting leprosy in time, you can contact the doctor at an early stage.
One of the dangers of the disease is the invisibility of the incubation period. At this stage, there are no manifestations of the disease. The duration of the latent phase in some is a couple of months, in others it reaches several tens of years. The average period, according to modern medicine, varies in the region of four years with a possible deviation for a year to the greater or lesser side. Occasionally, as shown by studies of the symptoms of the disease, leprosy manifests itself as a general malaise. A person is often drawn to sleep, the patient feels weak, often chills. Perhaps numbness of the feet, hands, especially noticeable in the fingers. It seems as if something is pricking these areas, goosebumps appear here. In medicine, this manifestation is called paresthesia. Spots may indicate leprosy. Hue ranges from whitish to cherry. These areas can be disturbed by impaired sensitivity.
About forms
Exploring special medical publications, you can figure out what leprosy is. Symptoms of the disease, photos of patients, features of the course - all this information is given in sufficient detail, since for many centuries that doctors have been struggling with leprosy, a lot of knowledge has been accumulated. However, the problem of the latent incubation period has not yet been resolved, therefore, in some, the disease is detected only 4-5 decades after the disease. Symptoms of the course will vary. Much depends on the form of the disease, the characteristics of the body.
The initial stage is called undifferentiated. This is the stage at which foci of rash are formed on the skin. It’s not easy to notice them, the areas are single and rather small in size. The brightness of the spots is underestimated, it is impossible to determine the border - it is too fuzzy. At the photos of patients showing the course of the disease, at first, leprosy is manifested only by such foci, which most pass on their own, without additional treatment. This usually takes about a year or two. Additionally, as can be learned from the descriptions, people complain of numbness of the hands and feet. Paresthesias are predominantly disturbed in the lesion site. People feel as if goosebumps are crawling here.
Disease development
They knew what leprosy was in the Middle Ages: the disease was already very common then. In those days, people did not yet know that development from an initial form to a progressive one is explained by insufficiency of immunity. However, already then the observations of doctors showed two variants of the course of a complicated case. Today they are called tuberculoid, lepromatous. The first option is relatively easy. It is observed if the weakness of the immune system is not very pronounced. This is possible if a person has a cold or suffers from some chronic, not very serious disease. This form is characterized by a relatively low degree of infectivity. For most patients, the prognosis is favorable.
It is possible to identify the tuberculoid course, as can be seen from the directories containing photos of patients with leprosy (Hansen's disease), on pale areas of the skin. The spots seem to lose pigmentation. They do not have even, clear boundaries. An alternative development option is bright papules that rise above the main level of the skin. If areas of the rash are formed, their hue becomes stagnant red, but the center is lighter than the main part. Papules can merge, causing plaques to appear. They tend to peripheral proliferation. Atrophic zones appear in the center. The skin loses elasticity, sinks. Since this damages the nerve structures, diseased skin loses its sensitivity.
The nuances of the flow
As you can learn from the medical history, leprosy, as it progresses, leads to thickening of the nerves. This was known before. Doctors, examining the patient, probed the affected area. This development feature is characteristic of a lighter form of flow. The classic areas of damage are the elbow, the tibia near the knee. Often the big nerves that feed the ears suffered.
Leprosy can be suggested by the activity of the sweat glands. Patients have hair loss.
Lepromatous form
This variant of the course is more severe. Such leprosy is a contagious disease that develops if the person’s immunity is very weak. This form of flow can be suggested if the patient has a stuffy nose, he breathes with difficulty and complains of frequent nosebleeds. Inflammatory processes develop in the larynx, the voice is hoarse, and large foci of skin lesions are observed. They are usually symmetrical. A feature of skin lesions is blurred borders, accompanied by thickening of the integument between the foci of the rash. All affected areas are either practically devoid of pigmentation or very bright in shade. More often, lesions of the face, ears, elbows, knees are observed. There are frequent cases of detection of a rash on the buttocks, wrists.
As observations show, with leprosy, the outer third of the eyebrows falls out. At a later stage, facial features are distorted. Facial expression is broken. This is due to thickening of the skin. The earlobes become thicker, larger, the lymph nodes in the perineum, axillary fossa grow. If the process spreads to the fiber under the skin, leprosy is formed. Such are more often detected on the extensor zones of the hands, feet, on the cheeks, forehead. To find out how it looks, you should turn to medical guides that talk about leprosy with a photo: the causes of the disease, the features of the course, spread. In such publications, it is usually mentioned that the lepromatous course is accompanied by neuritis, psychosis, trophic disorders, polyneuritis, neurosis.
Where did the trouble come from?
Scientists have long researched the features of leprosy. The cause of the disease is considered infection with mycobacteria. They spread by airborne droplets. A household transmission is possible through everyday objects whose surfaces are infected with a pathological form of life. There is a chance of infection through the skin, if the integument is damaged, there are wounds and cracks. The cause of the disease can be close contacts in everyday life - the use of certain objects with the patient, interaction, touching the skin.
The risks are higher if you are forced to dwell in unsanitary conditions. The danger is associated with the use of contaminated water - both for drinking and for the sake of hygiene procedures. The state of immunity plays its role. In case of malfunctions of this system, the presence of such ailments as HIV, AIDS and oncology, the risks are much higher than that characteristic of healthy people.
How to determine
Since doctors have long been aware of what this disease is, and the transmission of leprosy is also not a secret for medicine, there is nothing surprising in the fact that many methods and tools for diagnosing the condition have been developed. The modern doctor first of all listens to the patient and visually examines the patient. It is necessary to clarify the features and place of residence, the fact of interaction with those who already have the disease. It is necessary to clarify whether there are paresthesias, tingling, or whether a person often sleeps. When collecting an anamnesis, they clarify whether the patient is characterized by weakness, shortness of breath, whether there are nosebleeds. Upon examination, pay attention to the presence on the skin of whitish, reddish spots. Having found the areas covered with rashes, they feel them to identify thickened nerves.
Directories that tell with a photo about the causes of leprosy (St. Lazarus disease) recommend diagnosing pathology with the help of special tests. The classic option is bacterioscopic. It involves obtaining a scraping from the mucous membranes, followed by laboratory examination under a microscope. If a pathogen is identified, the diagnosis is considered confirmed. It is necessary to take samples from damaged areas of the face for DNA analysis. In some cases, an additional examination of an infectious disease specialist, a dermatologist is recommended.
About analyzes
Suspecting leprosy, a patient may be prescribed a sample using nicotinic acid. A milliliter of one percent solution is poured into the vein of the patient. If a person is sick with leprosy, after a while the rashes turn red, swell. Typically, a reaction takes no more than three minutes. In medicine, it has been called inflammation.
Since doctors know the causes of the disease (leprosy appears due to infection), a diagnostic method has been developed taking into account the effect of the infectious agent on the body. It is called the lepromine test. To determine the diagnosis, a person is injected with lepromine under the skin. This is a specific allergen to which a patient with St. Lazarus disease is sensitive. A reaction to the administered agent is expected from two to four weeks. Based on the results, they make a diagnosis.
Treatment
After diagnosis, the doctor is working on a multicomponent course of eliminating the disease. Treatment for leprosy (Hansen's disease) requires the use of specific antibiotics. They check to which means the pathogen is sensitive in a particular case, and it is they that are prescribed to the needy. Comprehensive treatment is recommended, including the use of various antimicrobial agents. The course is very long, in some cases lasts for years, others are shown for life.
As noted in statistical studies, approximately every third patient has a reactive state. This indicates a situation in which the course of the underlying disease accelerates, the symptoms become more significant. Given this fact, before the start of the drug course, the patient is hospitalized. Therapy in a hospital is safer for people and others.
Possible consequences
If a person does not receive adequate treatment, the skin integument is gradually thickened, tubercles form - such areas in medicine are called infiltration. The tissue of the nervous system is destroyed. This can cause a strong change in the appearance of a person. Eyebrows fall out, hair near eyebrows, earlobes become thicker and larger. For a long time, one of the consequences of leprosy has been called the “lion face”. This term denotes a deformation due to which a person's face becomes incapable of facial expressions. If the course is complicated by bacterial infection, necrotic processes are possible. There is a risk of losing parts of the body. Most often this is observed relative to the fingers.
If a person does not receive a qualified frown, over time, leprosy leads to nervous paralysis. The sensitivity of certain parts of the body is lost, the ability to move them disappears. Often the facial, ulnar nerves are affected, due to which muscle atrophy progresses. In practice, brushes most often suffer. Possible lagophthalmos, that is, a condition in which the eyelids do not close. This provokes corneal inflammation, ulceration of the eye and loss of the ability to see.
Complications of the disease
It is known that among patients with leprosy, the percentage of people who are unable to have sex due to impotence is higher. In the male body, a pathological agent penetrates the testes. Man loses the ability to produce offspring. Deformation of the nasal cartilage is possible, which causes the nose to lose its normal appearance.
Against the background of the disease, the mobility of the articular zones is limited. Diagnosed contracture.
Is it possible to warn?
There are currently no vaccines to rule out leprosy. The person who interacted with the patient should regularly visit a doctor to monitor the condition. Constant monitoring is required. A person who has had leprosy before cannot work in the food industry. He is forbidden to work in children's organizations. A person with leprosy cannot move to another country.
To minimize the risk of getting sick, you must carefully follow hygiene rules and standards. You should regularly use soap when washing hands, and if you get any kind of injury, immediately disinfect the area, no matter how small it is.
Case features
If leprosy develops in a woman, she affects the ovaries, which disrupts the functionality of this organ. This leads to premature aging. The patient begins the climacteric period earlier.
It is known that children under one year old are very rarely affected by leprosy. If the disease began in a child, the initial examination and choice of treatment is the responsibility of the pediatrician. If the case is complicated, this doctor will refer the patient to a highly specialized doctor.
Possible leprosy during pregnancy. If you suspect a disease and diagnosis, you need to consult a gynecologist. It is known that the disease can lead to a violation of placental metabolism. There is a risk of fetal malnutrition. The result is embryo hypoxia. If the disease is established, you need to constantly visit a gynecologist. In the first third of the term, one intake per month is sufficient, in the second - once every 2.5 weeks, in the third third - once a week or a half.