Hansen’s Disease- a disease being eradicated?

Authors

  • Elsa Rocha Serviço de Medicina Interna do Hospital Infante D. Pedro, EPE – Aveiro
  • Gorete Jesus Serviço de Medicina Interna do Hospital Infante D. Pedro, EPE – Aveiro
  • Clarinda Neves Serviço de Medicina Interna do Hospital Infante D. Pedro, EPE – Aveiro
  • Dulcínea Sá Serviço de Medicina Interna do Hospital Infante D. Pedro, EPE – Aveiro
  • Eliana Araújo Serviço de Medicina Interna do Hospital Infante D. Pedro, EPE – Aveiro
  • Beatriz Pinheiro Serviço de Medicina Interna do Hospital Infante D. Pedro, EPE – Aveiro
  • Teresa Borralho Serviço de Medicina Interna do Hospital Infante D. Pedro, EPE – Aveiro
  • Pires Geraldo Serviço de Medicina Interna do Hospital Infante D. Pedro, EPE – Aveiro
  • Bárbara Fernandes Serviço de Medicina Interna do Hospital Infante D. Pedro, EPE – Aveiro
  • Honório Campos Serviço de Medicina Interna do Hospital Infante D. Pedro, EPE – Aveiro
  • Jorge Crespo Serviço de Medicina Interna do Hospital Infante D. Pedro, EPE – Aveiro

Keywords:

Leprosy, Mycobacteriosis, Mycobacterium leprae

Abstract

Leprosy is an ancient chronic granulomatous disease caused by
Mycobacterium leprae. Prevalence varies greatly from country to
country and it represents an important public health problem in
developing countries. Despite the efforts of the WHO to eradicate
this disease, it has a prevalence greater than 1/10,000 in one
group of fifteen countries, led by India and Brazil.
Clinical features are skin lesions and sensory and/or motor
peripheral neuropathy with varying presentations and impairment evolving to characteristic deformities and disability if not
treated.
We report two clinical cases of two females with leprosy, whose
diagnosis was made in the same year and region. A lepromatous
and a borderline form, each of them with particularities and diagnostic difficulties, delayed starting treatment. One had a history
of residence in Brazil but the other had no contact with endemic
areas or other known risks.
The authors present a systematic revision of the disease,
reporting the prevalence in Portugal of leprosy in the last seven years.

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Additional Files

Published

2008-06-30

How to Cite

1.
Rocha E, Jesus G, Neves C, Sá D, Araújo E, Pinheiro B, Borralho T, Geraldo P, Fernandes B, Campos H, Crespo J. Hansen’s Disease- a disease being eradicated?. RPMI [Internet]. 2008 Jun. 30 [cited 2024 Dec. 18];15(2):108-17. Available from: https://revista.spmi.pt/index.php/rpmi/article/view/1459

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 2 (2008): Abril/ Junho

Section

Case Reports

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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