Anambra State currently have 110 confirmed cases of leprosy, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Joe Akabuike, disclosed this yesterday in a press conference at Awka to mark the World Leprosy Day in Anambra State.
He said last year the state registered 95 people, who were infected by leprosy and had been confined, and were receiving treatment in two rehabilitation centres in the state.
He added that fresh cases of the disease were also identified among 15 citizens of the state, making a total of 110 people who were currently suffering the disease and were being catered for in rehabilitation centres.
The commissioner said that leprosy was one of the oldest diseases known to man and is named after a Norwegian doctor, Gerhard Henrik Hansen, who debunked the prevailing notion then that the disease was hereditary.
On how the disease could be contracted, Akabuike said: “It is caused by bacteria and mainly affects the skin, peripheral nerves and mucus membrane of the upper respiratory tract. And transmission is through droplets of coughing and sneezing and it has an incubation period of two years before it fully manifests.”
He said they were currently trying to create awareness so people would know leprosy has not totally disappeared and also help prevent the disease from spreading.
The commissioner added that as part of activities to mark the celebration, the ministry and its officials would visit the two rehabilitation centres in Nnewi and Okija to celebrate with the inmates and to also let them know that it is no longer a terminal disease if they routinely take their drugs.
He assured that the disease was fully preventable and curable, adding that people who find any trace of the disease should visit the TBL centres, which are in all the local government areas of the state for free cure and advise.
On why the disease has not been wiped out of the country, Akabuike attributed it to the attitude of carriers who refuse to report themselves for fear of stigmatisation and quarantine, as some people prefer to die with it than being identified.
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