How is Leprosy treated?
With minimal training, leprosy can be easily diagnosed on clinical signs alone. It
is a curable disease and treatment provided in the early stages averts disability. A
World Health Organization (WHO) Study Group recommended multidrug therapy (MDT) in 1981.
MDT consists of three drugs: dapsone, rifampicin and clofazimine. This drug combination
kills the pathogen and cures the patient. MDT is safe, effective and easily
administered under field conditions.
Novartis and the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development have made MDT available
free of charge to all leprosy patients in the world. Through WHO, this MDT is provided to
countries in sufficient supply to treat all people diagnosed with the disease.
High Effectiveness of Multidrug Therapy
Paucibacillary (PB) patients treated with MDT are cured within six months. Multibacillary
(MB) patients treated with MDT are cured within twelve months. After the first dose of
MDT, patients are no longer infectious to others, that is transmission of leprosy is
interrupted. Furthermore, there are virtually no relapses, i.e., recurrences of the
disease after treatment is completed. No resistance of the bacillus to MDT has been
detected.
History of Treatment
The first breakthrough occurred in the 1940s with the development of the drug dapsone,
which arrested the disease. But the duration of the treatment of leprosy was many years,
even a lifetime, making it difficult for patients to follow. In the 1960s, M. leprae
started to develop resistance to dapsone, the world’s only known anti-leprosy drug.
Rifampicin and clofazimine, the other two components of MDT, were discovered in the early
1960s. |
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