Leprosy has afflicted humanity since time immemorial

YANGON, February 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Myanmar has announced that it has eliminated leprosy, according to a media report here.

Myanmar’s government first secretary Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt said the country had reached the target at which the disease is considered eliminated - fewer than one case for every 10,000 people - at the end of January, the Myanmar Times said in its edition to be published Monday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Khin Nyunt made the announcement at a meeting in the capital Yangon last week of the Global Alliance for the Elimination of Leprosy (GAEL) which reaffirmed its commitment to rid the planet of the flesh-destroying disease by 2005.

Working with its international partners, Myanmar had reduced the prevalence of leprosy from 39.9 cases for every 10,000 people in 1988 to 1.04 last December, the semi-official weekly said.

Khin Nyunt paid tribute to the World Health Organization (WHO), a key player in GAEL, and other international partners for helping the country fight the disease.

“Mutual support among partners in developing a comprehensive and consistent leprosy elimination program has proved to be the cornerstone of our success,” Khin Nyunt said.

GAEL, which includes donors and countries still battling leprosy, said in a declaration at the end of the three-day meeting that military-ruled Myanmar was a “shining example” of how to eliminate the disease.

Myanmar introduced multi-drug therapy, much of it supplied by international donors, following a WHO recommendation in 1986.

Leprosy was still a public health problem in only 12 of the 122 countries listed as endemic in 1985, the Yangon Declaration said.

According to GAEL, 90 percent of leprosy cases are found in India, Brazil, Nepal, Madagascar, Mozambique and Myanmar.

“The target set to achieve elimination by all countries by the year 2005 may be missed by some countries...,” the declaration said. It called for “special efforts” by those counties, which it did not identify, to reach the goal.

WHO executive director for communicable diseases Dr David Heyman, who was in Yangon, described Myanmar’s elimination of leprosy as “a remarkable achievement,” the Myanmar Times said.

He told the meeting the country was now addressing the problem of tuberculosis, the root cause of which was HIV/AIDS.

UNAIDS estimates that up to 400,000 people among Myanmar's population of 48 million are infected with HIV. Independent experts in Yangon say the incidence could be twice as high.

According to the WHO, at the beginning of 2002, the number of leprosy patients in the world was around 635 000, as reported by 106 countries. About 760 000 new cases were detected during 2001.

Full control of leprosy has eluded mainly in Angola, Brazil, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar and Nepal. These countries are committed to stepping up leprosy control activities.

“Information campaigns about leprosy in high risk areas are crucial so that patients and their families, who were historically ostracized from their communities, are encouraged to come forward and receive treatment.

“Today, diagnosis and treatment of leprosy is easy. Essential work is being carried out to integrate leprosy services into existing, general health services. This is especially important for communities at risk for leprosy, which are often the poorest of the poor and under-served,” reported WHO on its website.

According to the WHO, leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, an acid-fast, rod-shaped bacillus. The disease mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosa of the upper respiratory tract and also the eyes, apart from some other structures.

Leprosy has afflicted humanity since time immemorial. It once affected every continent and it has left behind a terrifying image in history and human memory - of mutilation, rejection and exclusion from society.

When M.leprae was discovered by G.A. Hansen in 1873, it was the first bacterium to be identified as causing disease in man.