Abstract

CHICO CAPOTE, Araceli; SANTOS BARBERY, Alejandro  and  PUENTE CARMONA, Rolando Dayan. Hansen's Disease. Rev. Cuban de Med [online]. 2023, vol.62, n.1  Epub Mar 01, 2023. ISSN 1561-302X.

Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic infection caused by mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae) or mycobacterium lepromatosis (M. lepromatosis). It is a curable infectious disease, endemic in more than 140 countries around the world. Despite being declared eradicated as a global public health problem by the World Health Organization in 2000, approximately 200,000 new cases were reported worldwide in 2017. Despite available combination drug therapy, it remains a major public health problem, carrying strong stigma. In Cuba, according to 2020 health statistical yearbook, 116 cases were reported during that year. The most affected provinces were Santiago de Cuba (25 new cases) and Guantánamo (17 new cases). The case to be reported concerns a 20-year-old young woman of reproductive age, with general manifestations of asthenia, hair loss, adenopathies, polyarthritis, skin lesions, and fever; she suspected was a collagen disease. Currently, she is well and she is followed up by primary health care in her province.

Keywords : Hansen's disease; mycobacterium leprae; curable infectious disease.

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