Leprosy is one disease that has ravaged many communities in Nigeria especially in Bauchi state. In this report by NAJIB SANI, he examines the prevalence of the scourge in the light of activities that were lined up for the World Leprosy Day last week.
The Bauchi state Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Malaria (BACATMA) says the bacterium that causes leprosy grows very slowly with generation time of 12 to 13 days as against few minutes for other bacteria but has an incubation period of two to five years.
How it is transmitted
The executive chairman of the agency, Dr Sani Mohammed Dambam, while addressing journalists during the commemoration of the 2020 World Leprosy Day held last week in Bauchi, said although the disease develops slowly from six months to 40 years, it poses serious health problems to infected persons including causing infertility in men.
He said, “It usually affects the skin, mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract and the peripheral nervous system, resulting in skin lesions and deformities, most often affecting the cooler parts of the body such as eye, nose, earlobes, hands, feet and testicles,” he noted.
Dambam explained further that by affecting testicles, leprosy can cause infertility in men infected with the disease especially if they are not treated in good time.
Not necessarily hereditary
On the notion that leprosy is hereditary, the BACATMA chairman debunked the impression saying, however, that the disease tends to occur within families due to the concentration in families with the increased opportunity for intimate contact and transmission.
According to him, scientists have proved that it is due to overcrowding, concentration and intimacy within family members that leprosy spreads among siblings and parents.
While urging people who notice signs and symptoms of the disease to rush to hospital so that they can be treated early to avoid complications and permanent damages on their body parts, Dambam enumerated some of the symptoms that accompany the disease as skin patch lighter than the surrounding skin, loss of sensation of touch, pain, loss of eye brows or eye lashes, numbness, weakness of hand and feet, eye damage, dryness, thickened, painful peripheral nerves of the hands, feet, painless wounds or burns on the hands, feet, loss of digits and facial disfigurement.
Progresses made so far
The agency claimed that over the years, significant progress had been made in terms of leprosy control globally, nationally and also at the state level.
He noted that the elimination of the disease as a public health problem was achieved globally since the year 2000 when the prevalence of less than one case per 10, 000 population was registered.
However, he uncovered that pockets of endemic cases have continued in many countries including Nigeria.
“In Bauchi state and at the end of 2019, there were 81 new leprosy cases detected, incidence rate of 0.11 per 10, 000 populations,” he asserted.
He said although this indicates that the state has achieved the global elimination target of one case per 10, 000 population; the two major leprosy indicators that is the percentage of children among new cases and percentage of new cases with visible disability continue to pose new challenges.
The BACATMA chairman pointed out that the 2019 statistics showed that the percentage of children in the state among the new cases was six percent above the target of five percent indicating that the transmission of the disease is still ongoing in the communities, adding that the percentage of cases with visible disability was 10 percent above the target of five percent.
The ugly trend he opined indicated that adults with leprosy presented themselves late for treatment assuring that early diagnosis and treatment prevents developing disability from the disease.
He ascribed late diagnosis of the disease to fear of stigma by community members to the patients.
“To effectively combat the stigma, a multi-sectoral approach is needed. Health authorities need to reach out to and include leprosy affected persons and communities in their programming. Laws or regulations that encourage discrimination against persons suffering leprosy should be repealed.
“A concert of voices should be mobilised to counter harmful social attitudes. Non-governmental and civil society organisations and the media should be included in the campaigns to challenge leprosy-related stigma, and to address discrimination against affected persons and their family members,” he advised.
The BACATMA boss explained that the aim of the World Leprosy Day is to change the attitude and increase public awareness of the fact that leprosy is still prevalent in the state but can easily be prevented, diagnosed and cured free of charge.
In line with that, he said series of week-long activities including television and radio programmes would be aired state-wide and leprosy outreaches in high endemic communities.
Challenges
The challenge faced in the control of the disease he pointed out includes dwindling financial support with the close out of major international partners particularly the Netherlands Leprosy Relief (NLR) that supported leprosy activities in the state for many decades.
He solicited political and financial support from government, organisations and individuals for leprosy control programs in the state.
Leprosy is a chronic disease caused by bacteria called ‘Mycobacterium leprae’. It is one of the oldest diseases known to mankind.
It is an airborne disease transmitted by minute droplets through the upper respiratory tract when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It is communicable and according to experts, human beings are the only known reservoir and the route through which other human beings can become infected. This means animals do not transmit it but basically through human contacts.
