Government of India - WHO-ICMR workshop on 'Monitoring and evaluation of leprosy control in the post-elimination era

Leprosy Mailing List – January 22nd, 2008

Ref.: Government of India - WHO-ICMR workshop on 'Monitoring and evaluation of leprosy control in the post-elimination era'
From: Das P. K., Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Dear Salvatore,

I have read the resume of the meeting held on Nov 2007 in Chennai, with interest (Pannikar V. LML January 15th , 2008).

Most of the strategies and logistics as described, seem to me, rather common sense. The contents will surely be agreed upon by most of the LML readers. Nevertheless, I would like to make a simple comment if I am allowed, which is as follows:
I am rather surprised that there was no earnest discussion about the pressing need for identifying risk individuals for succumbing to disease and per se nerve impairment at an early stage. In my humble opinion as a non clinician, this surely, must be the goal for the investigators in the world without Leprosy. Despite the fact we know so much about the leprosy immunopathology and we had been so much engaged in hypothesizing the unique pathomechanism of this enigmatic disease, we still know so little! I must admit, I am a bit overwhelmed with so many contradictory opinions being expressed about the patho-mechanism of the disease, but early detection of the disease at the silent stage still remains a mystery. This is extremely important to identify the disease with confirmation at a very early stage, so that “pre-empty” measure can be adopted, before the infection has a chance to evolve resulting into the debilitating disease.

I am sure each one of us is quite alert, but question is how are we going tackle it? It will be interesting to listen to discussions among the PUNDITS {knowledgeable experts with wisdom}, who will be present in the forthcoming ICL, in Hyderabad.

Thanks for forwarding the synopsis of the Chennai meeting.

Pran