Myth: No one gets leprosy anymore
Fact: This is not true. The Indian government has launched many leprosy eradication programmes, and has in fact reached its goal of reaching the WHO elimination standards in 2005. There are still cases of leprosy that occur everyday. However the incidence is on decline as the leprosy prevalence rate has decreased from 4.6/10,000 population in 1996 to 0.82/10,000 in July 2006.

Myth:  Leprosy cannot be cured

Fact: Leprosy is completely curable. However until the 1940s, there was no effective cure forleprosy, leading to this myth. Today, with Multi Drug Therapy (MDT), which involves using three drugs – Dapsone, Rifampicin, and Clofazimine, leprosy can be cured easily. MDT is commonly available with government as well as private institutes. People and health officials must be educated about the use of MDT. Just one dose of MDT reduces the infectivity of the disease by more than 90 per cent. Therefore, early detection and treatment of cases is urgently required. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and many organisations in India are actively doing this work in rural areas to facilitate the eradication of leprosy.

Myth: Transmission of leprosy can be prevented by social boycott of the patient

Fact: Leprosy though a communicable disease, only spreads through droplet infection (similar to the way TB spreads by coughing/sneezing) and intimate personal contact with a person who is not taking treatment. Social boycott is not the solution; it will only serve to increase the stigma associated with the disease and its deformities.

Myth: Leprosy affects only poor people

Fact: Poverty has as much to do with the incidence of leprosy as it does with most other public health problems. Leprosy usually affects the lower socio-economic groups as they possess low body immunity and seldom have access to healthy food, adequate sanitation and basic medical care. However, anyone can be infected by leprosy if they are susceptible and exposed to the right dose of the bacteria.

Myth: Leprosy is extremely contagious

Fact: It is estimated that more than 90 per cent of the world’s population possesses total natural immunity to leprosy. Leprosy is not very contagious and is usually spread by droplets, so coming in contact with the body fluids of someone who has the active disease, can cause infection. It usually affects those who have low body immunity. In no way, however, is transmission as easy as most people believe.

Myth: Leprosy is hereditary

Fact: Leprosy tends to occur within families, and in the past this led many people to think that it was hereditary. However, in reality, leprosy is not hereditary; it is a bacterial infection similar to any other infection. However due to a higher chance of close contact and also the same precipitating factors, leprosy tends to occur in families, but only a small proportion of family members contract the disease.

Myth: Leprosy is related to eating certain kinds of food

Fact: The bacteria causing leprosy, Mycobacterium leprae, is not a food-borne bacteria. The primary modes of transmission of leprosy are prolonged close contact and transmission by nasal droplets. Therefore, food has no relation to the spread of leprosy. However, poor eating and malnutrition can make a person susceptible to the disease.

Myth: Leprosy is a venereal disease

Fact: Due to the fact that leprosy is spread through intimate body contact and tends to occur within families it was believed that leprosy is a sexually transmitted disease. However, in reality, leprosy can spread without sexual contact and through droplet infection. 

The following were consulted to help bust these myths

• Jayant Datt, AGM (Community Service), Tata Motors. Tata Motors supports Nav Jagrat Manav Samaj, an NGO dealing with leprosy in Jamshedpur
• Dr Aparatim Goel, non-surgical consultant dermatologist

Pic: Ahmet ŞEN