Leprosy have been attacking humans throughout history. Many experts believe that the first writings about leprosy appeared in an Egyptian papyrus document written about 1550 BC. Around the year 600 BC, found in an Indian language text that describes the disease resembles leprosy. In Europe, leprosy first appeared in ancient Greek records after the army of Alexander the Great returning from India. Later in Rome in 62 BC coincided with the return of troops from Asia Minor Pompeii.
Throughout history, leprosy has been feared and misunderstood. For a long time leprosy was considered a hereditary disease, curse, or punishment from God. Before and even after the discovery of the bacteria that causes leprosy, people who have experienced stigma against leprosy and shunned by society. For example, in Europe during the Middle Ages, people who have had leprosy must wear special clothing, ring bells to warn others that they were close, and even walking on a particular side of the road, depending on wind direction. Even in modern times, the treatment of leprosy is often done in a special hospital and they lived separately in colonies called leprosarium.
In 1873, Dr. Armauer Gerhard Henrik Hansen of Norway was the first to identify the germ that causes leprosy under a microscope. Hansen's discovery of Mycobacterium leprae to prove that leprosy was caused by germs, and thus is not hereditary, of curse, or from sin.
Until the late 1940s, doctors around the world leprosy cure leprosy-affected patients by injecting the oil from the nuts chaulmoogra. This treatment is painful, and although some patients seem to benefit from this treatment, long-term namundampak this treatment is still in doubt.
1921, the U.S. Public Health Service founded the W. Gillis Long Hansen's Disease Center in Carville, Louisiana, known as "Carville." These institutions became centers of research and testing to find a cure for leprosy and lived in a treatment center for leprosy patients.
Next in 1941, Promin, a sulfone drug, was introduced as a cure for leprosy. First identified and used in Carville. Promin successfully treat leprosy but unfortunately Promin the painful effects when disuntukkan in patients. By 1950, Pills Dapsone, discovered by Dr RG Cochrane at Carville, it became an alternative for the treatment of leprosy. Dapsone works great at first, but unfortunately, Micobacterium leprae eventually began to develop resistance to dapsone. The first successful multi-drug treatment (MDT) regimen for leprosy was developed through a drug test on the island of Malta. World Health Organization recommends MDT began, a combination of three drugs: dapsone, rifampicin, and clofazimine. MDT with these drugs takes from six months to a year or even more, depending on the stregnth leprosy infection. MDT with a combination of dapsone, rifampicin, and clofazimine still the best treatment to prevent nerve damage, disability, disability and further transmission. Researchers are trying to develop vaccines and ways to detect leprosy early to start treatment earlier.
