Leprosy campaign for first time in city

MUMBAI:FOR the first time, Mumbai will be included in the state’s fortnight-long leprosy case detection campaign.

Municipal health workers will conduct a door-to-door survey between September 24 and October 9 to find suspected leprosy cases, covering 47.8 lakh people across the municipal wards.

Leprosy is a disease caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium leprae that affects the nerves, upper respiratory tract and eyes. Once a person is infected, the disease can take up to seven years to manifest.in 2005, the government of India officially declared elimination of leprosy at a national level. However, new cases continue to be detected, which is worrying, said doctors.

“Every year, the number of new leprosy cases detected across India including Maharashtra continue to remain the same, which means there is ongoing transmission of the disease,” said Dr Vivek Pai of the Bombay Leprosy Project, a city-based NGO. Moreover, leprosy, unlike Tuberculosis, is not a ‘notifiable disease’, a reason why the figures from private sector are not captured in the statistics. The campaign will cover 35 districts in the state.out of the total 5,073 new leprosy cases in state, 2,052 cases were infectious.

Dr Raju Jotkar, assistant director, health services, leprosy, said, “Detection campaigns are important as nearly 20-50% of new cases are detected during campaigns.”