WORLD LEPROSY DAY 2025
The theme for World Leprosy Day 2025 is “Unite. Act. Eliminate.”: A Global Imperative, underscores the need for collective action to raise awareness, combat stigma, and work towards eliminating leprosy.
Today is World Leprosy Day 2025, a reminder of the ongoing fight against leprosy, a disease that continues to affect lives despite being curable. The Unite, Act, Eliminate Leprosy campaign encourages the public to spread the message that leprosy still exists but is curable, urging communities to support those affected and advocate for effective interventions.
Leprosy, or Hansen’s disease, is a chronic infectious condition caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It primarily affects the skin, peripheral nerves, and mucosal surfaces, leading to progressive deformities if left untreated.
A person with leprosy may initially present with numbness, skin patches, and muscle weakness. In hand surgery, we frequently encounter leprosy hand deformities, such as clawing of fingers, loss of sensation, and contractures. Leprosy hands and feet suffer from nerve damage, particularly the ulnar and median nerves, causing functional impairment. In advanced cases, leprosy fingers may develop ulcers and resorption, leading to permanent disability.
Leprosy is a communicable disease but has low contagion, primarily spreading through prolonged, close contact with untreated cases. It is neither highly infectious nor fatal, but without timely treatment, it can cause irreversible nerve damage. The best level of prevention for leprosy is early detection and prompt initiation of best medicine for leprosy, which is multidrug therapy (MDT), consisting of rifampicin, dapsone, and clofazimine. This is also the best drug for leprosy, effectively stopping disease progression and transmission.
A crucial question is, can leprosy be cured permanently? Yes, MDT ensures complete cure, but nerve damage and deformities require surgical intervention for functional restoration. Hand surgeons play a key role in reconstructing leprosy hand deformities through tendon transfers, joint stabilization, and soft tissue procedures to improve function. Addressing leprosy in hand babies and early cases is critical to prevent lifelong disability.
In Bangalore and other endemic areas, leprosy in hand remains a challenge, with many patients presenting late due to social stigma. On this World Leprosy Day 2025, let us reinforce awareness, advocate for early treatment, and support reconstructive surgery to restore function in affected individuals. The Unite, Act, Eliminate Leprosy campaign reminds us that by spreading awareness, fighting discrimination, and ensuring access to treatment, we can eliminate leprosy and its impact on future generations.
At Madhu Hand Surgery & Orthopaedic Centre, we treat leprosy hand and related deformities, offering specialized surgical interventions to restore function and improve quality of life.