"India's Leprosy Elimination Drive Faces Transmission Gaps"
Leprosy (Hansen's disease)
chronic bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae affecting skin and nerves
Elimination as a public health problem
WHO threshold of under 1 case per 10,000 population, not zero transmission
Leprosy, also called Hansen's disease, is a chronic bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It damages skin and nerves, which means it can cause numbness and deformity if untreated. India launched the National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP) in 1983. The country adopted the World Health Organization's multidrug therapy (MDT). This is a combination of rifampicin, dapsone and clofazimine. This treatment cured patients faster. It also cut the time they stayed on the official register.
By 2005, national prevalence fell below 1 case per 10,000 people. This is the WHO threshold for calling a disease 'eliminated as a public health problem'. This is not the same as eradication, which would mean zero new infections. After this declaration, the government folded the dedicated leprosy surveillance system into general health services. Shorter MDT courses meant patients left the register quickly. This let prevalence numbers fall even while transmission continued quietly in several pockets. Leprosy-affected persons also faced legal and social exclusion for decades. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 recognises leprosy-affected persons as persons with disabilities. This gives them legal protection against discrimination.
Leprosy cases are classified by how much bacteria they carry. Disability is graded from 0 to 2. Grade-2 disability means a visible deformity caused by nerve damage. It usually signals that diagnosis came late. Because MDT cures patients in a fixed, short period, many people are removed from monitoring before health workers can trace everyone they may have infected. This is a key reason prevalence looks low while new transmission still happens.
To break this chain, health workers now use single-dose rifampicin (SDR) as post-exposure prophylaxis. …
Consider the following statements regarding 'elimination of leprosy as a public health problem':
1.It refers to a prevalence of less than 1 case per 10,000 population.
2.It implies that transmission of the disease has completely stopped.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
With reference to India's leprosy control programme, consider the following statements:
1.The National Leprosy Eradication Programme was launched in 1983.
2.It adopted the World Health Organization's multidrug therapy regimen.
3.India achieved elimination of leprosy as a public health problem by 2005.
How many of the statements given above are correct?
In the context of leprosy, 'Grade-2 disability' refers to which of the following?
Post-exposure prophylaxis for contacts of a confirmed leprosy patient in India typically involves administration of which of the following?
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