(LML) Early detection is the critical part

Leprosy Mailing List – January 4,  2019

Ref.:    (LML) Early detection is the critical part

From:  Cairns Smith, Aberdeen, Scotland

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Dear colleagues,

Early detection and treatment has been the basic strategy for leprosy control for the past 70 years.  Multidrug therapy (MDT) has proved a robust treatment since 1982 with minimal reported relapses.  Early detection is the critical component of the leprosy control strategy that prevents disability and transmission irrespective of the type of MDT used.  Surveys repeatedly show many people affected by leprosy are not diagnosed and treated, and many new patients have developed nerve damage by the time they are detected.  We now need to focus much more on promoting early detection.

Cairns Smith

W Cairns S Smith OBE, MD, MPH, PhD
Emeritus Professor of Public Health,
School of Medicine and Dentistry,
University of Aberdeen,
Polwarth Building,
Foresterhill,
Aberdeen AB25 2ZD,
Scotland, UK

Email: w.c.s.smith@abdn.ac.uk