Leprosy worries

We welcomed Nicholas Kristof’s Perspective article “Good News in spite of everything you might have heard,” (11 July). It addresses the work that has gone into tackling leprosy, bringing it into the spotlight when it often mistakenly viewed as a disease of the past.

The article did, however, make some misleading comments where Mr Kristof focuses on the drop of leprosy cases since 1985 – yet there is little mention of the people who are diagnosed annually today and the worrying upwards trend.

It is still a very current global health issue and each year,

210,000 people are diagnosed and treated; however, there are millions living undiagnosed and millions of others left with serious life-changing disabilities. Currently, actively searching for cases compared to waiting for people to come to a hospital finds three times as many cases of leprosy.

In 2000 and 2005 the World Health Organisation encouraged countries to report that they had tackled leprosy and this led to a massive reduction in the reporting of cases with no real increase in the numbers treated. In short, public pronouncements of a reduction in leprosy do not match the reality in the countries in which we work. More worrying, the perception created of a disease on the wane has led to a reduction in surveillance and active case finding. In some countries we now see that leprosy cases are rising at a worrying rate.

It’s important to celebrate victories in improving global health. However, it is equally important to recognise that leprosy still exists and momentum has been lost and data manipulated to understate the increasing impact of leprosy in the world.

GEOFF PRESCOTT Chief Executve, Lepra Middleborough, Colchester, Essex