Wednesday, February 21, 2007 Health agency steps up info campaign on leprosy By Carlo P. Mallo
THE regional office of the Department of Health (DOH) has intensified its campaign to eradicate the stigma brought about by leprosy, Dr. Francisco Alivio, DOH medical specialist, said Tuesday.
"Leprosy is now curable and with the new medication we have, there is a minimum possibility of a relapse," Alivio told Sun.Star.
He explains that DOH, which is celebrating the Leprosy Week, is now using a new drug to combat the disease.
The present medication employed by the DOH is called "Multi-Drug Treatment" or MDT, using multiple drugs in combating leprosy. Based on test results, such approach had a relapse incident of less than one percent, proving to be most effective.
At present, there is no vaccine available against leprosy, although there is one being tested.
Alivio said leprosy is one of the most communicable diseases in the world. It can be easily transmitted from one person to another by mere contact of saliva droplets. Leprosy is caused by the bacterium leprei.
The disease is hard to detect in its early stage, as it is chronic in nature.
It would usually take three to 15 years before signs and symptoms of the disease would manifest.
Leprosy Week is celebrated by DOH every third week of February. This year the celebration was aptly themed "Moving Towards a Leprosy Free Philippines."
Information dissemination will be more aggressive during the week-long celebration.
