Fact Ethiopia

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease of man caused by mycobacterium Leprae.
Leprosy is essentially a disease of peripheral nerves but it also affects the skin and sometimes certain other tissues notably the eye, the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract, muscle, bone and testes.

It can be diagnosed, and usually can be cured with no damaging after-effects, but only if it is recognised early and treated properly.

If left untreated it may cause severe physical disabilities. It is often the cause of severe emotional distress to patients and patients’ families, and may also seriously disturb their social life.

Not all patients suffering from leprosy are equally infectious to others. Those from whom the skin smears are negative are not regarded as infectious cases and will not spread the disease. Patients with positive skin smears may infect others if they are not under regular treatment.

There are two types of leprosy: Tuberculoid which is non-infectious and Lepromatoes which is infectious. Only patients who discharge live leprosy bacilli can infect other people.

Most people who come into contact with leprosy bacilli do not develop leprosy. They have high resistance to mycobacterium Leprae. Only very few people who lack high resistance will get leprosy from an infectious patient.

Leprosy conspicuously affects the highland regions rather than the lowland areas. In highland areas of the country the high prevalence rates range from 2.6 to 8.1 per thousand while in lower areas the rate of the disease ranges from 0.05 to 1.7 per thousand.

(Source: National Atlas of Ethiopia)