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6 Strange Facts About Leprosy
Hansen’s disease may conjure up images of lost limbs and obscure colony , but the disease is actually much less extreme and wholly treatable today .
The modern name for leprosy is Hansen ’s disease ; it ’s make by the bacteriumMycobacterium leprae . The disease causes tegument lesions and can permanently damage a person ’s spunk ; however , it is a misconception that it causes people ’s trunk share to fall off . [ Top 10 Stigmatized Health Disorders ]
Here are six strange facts about Hansen’s disease .
This x-ray of the hands of someone with leprosy was taken in Thailand. The disease causes deformities and contractures, seen here.
Leprosy cases still occur, even in the U.S.
Although Hansen’s disease is often thought of as an ancient disease , masses can still become infected with the bacteria that cause the disease .
Indeed , a event of Hansen’s disease was report in a California schoolchild in September 2016 , and several cases pop up up each year across the southerly United States , including in Florida , Louisiana and Texas .
In 2014 , there were 175 cases of leprosy reported in the U.S. , according to the National Hansen ’s Disease Program ( NHDP ) . Typically , between 150 and 200 cases are reported each twelvemonth , the NHDP says .
This x-ray of the hands of someone with leprosy was taken in Thailand. The disease causes deformities and contractures, seen here.
Leprosy is totally curable.
The isolation that once went hand in hand with a diagnosis of leprosy was devastating to patient . But today , the disease is easily treated with a combination of antibiotics .
However , handling does take a long time to discharge : patient role diagnosed with Hansen’s disease should expect to take antibiotics for six calendar month to two years , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) .
When a someone start take antibiotic for Hansen’s disease , he or she will become noncontagious within a few days , fit in to the NHDP . This is because the medication quickly kill almost all of the leprosy - causing bacteria . The few that remain are not enough to make a person contagious , but if the treatment is stop too early , these bacterium could reignite an contagion .
The dead bacterium may stay in the soundbox for several years , even after the treatment is finish , the NHDP say ; the dead bacterium stimulate no risk for reinfection .
Armadillos can carry it.
One ground that Hansen’s disease case may be more common in certain role of the country has to do with a sure critter that live in those region : thenine - banded armadillo(Dasypus novemcinctus ) .
Indeed , these armadillo can carry the bacterium that have Hansen’s disease and pass the bacteria along to humans . Researchers think thathumans first convey Hansen’s disease to armadillos , sometime in the past 500 years , and a bailiwick from 2011 confirm that armadillos can pass it back to world .
Lovers of other animal need not venerate , however ; armadillos are the only other beast besides humans known to get leprosy .
Most people are immune to it.
Yes , leprosy is contagious — masses can become septic if they inhale the bacterium . However , one reasonableness the disease is not widespread is that an estimated 95 percent of all humans are immune to the disease , concord to the NHDP .
There’s still a “leprosy colony” in the U.S. …
… but people are no longer pressure to last there .
People with Hansen’s disease were once sent to live on Hawaii ’s Kalaupapa peninsula , on the island of Molokai , from 1866 to 1969 , concord to theNational Park Service(NPS ) . Today , the area isa national park .
Over the hundred - twelvemonth full stop , more than 8,000 people , most of whom were Hawaiian , decease at Kalaupapa , the NPS says . Though people were liberal to pull up stakes the area starting in 1969 , many stay because it had become home , according to CNN . Everyone who still dwell there has been cured of the disease , according to the NPS .
A nine-banded armadillo
As of September 2015 , 16 former Hansen ’s disease patients still know on the Kalaupapa peninsula , CNN reported .
Today’s leprosy is not the same kind as that in the Bible.
Although leprosy is cite in theBible , the references do not seem to describe the same disease people experience today .
Rather , the word " leprosy " in the Bible appears to have been translated from a Hebrew intelligence that referred to worldwide uncleanliness , and could be applied to people , habiliment or even buildings , according tothe Nepal Leprosy Trust .
When the word appear in the Bible in consultation to people , it appears to refer to a broad kitchen stove of skin conditions .
The NHDP take note that Hansen ’s disease is not the " Hansen’s disease of the Old Testament . "
Originally published onLive scientific discipline .
Kalawao Bay at Kalaupapa National Historical Park.
