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BBC-Leprosy still found in Asia, Af



Subject: BBC-Leprosy still found in Asia, Africa, and Latin America

Monday, February 1, 1999 Published at 05:35 GMT

Health-New focus on leprosy

Leprosy still found in Asia, Africa, and Latin America
By Corinne Podger of BBC Science

The World Health Organisation is marking World Leprosy Day by highlighting
its campaign against a disease which causes crippling disabilities in many
developing countries.

Angelo Simonazzi, of the International Federation of Anti-Leprosy
Associations: "Leprosy is also a social disease"
The disease has almost disappeared from the developed world, but 500,000 new
cases are reported every year in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The WHO hopes to eliminate leprosy as a public health threat by the end of
this year, but it is still battling a number of hurdles.

One of the biggest is a lack of both researchers and funding. This is
because the organism that causes leprosy is very similar to the one that
causes tuberculosis.

Because the incidence of TB in the developed world is rising, it gets a lot
more publicity and funding. Researchers working on leprosy complain that
there has been a brain drain of enthusiastic young scientists into high
profile TB projects.

Much work to be done

But this insidious disease still causes terrible suffering and crippling
disabilities, and it is not beaten yet.

The worst-affected countries are India, Indonesia and Myanmar (formerly
known as Burma). Africa, the second most afflicted region has other
obstacles to overcome, like the Aids epidemic and malaria, as well as armed
conflicts and a weaker health infrastructure.

The WHO admits that eradicating leprosy from Africa at the moment is "an
impractical luxury".

The tragedy is that leprosy is completely treatable. A combination of
antibiotics can cure the disease, although damage to nerves is permanent.

In March, the WHO will meet with leprosy experts to see if its goal of
beating the disease by the year 2000 can be achieved, and if not, when the
world will be rid of it.