Leprosy & HIV FAQs

Leprosy

Does it still exist?

You may think that leprosy is an ancient Biblical disease, but today someone will be newly diagnosed with leprosy every two minutes. Leprosy is caused by a complicated bacterium that can hide in someone’s body for up to 20 years. It’s not hereditary, it can’t be contracted by touch, and you won’t catch it if your immune system is strong. It’s a disease of poverty, so it’s no surprise that more than 50% of cases are found in India.

Can it be cured?

The good news is that leprosy can be cured with a simple combination of three antibiotics called Multidrug therapy. But sadly, leprosy still devastates lives. It robs people of family, livelihoods and dignity.

What does leprosy do?

Leprosy attacks small nerves on the skin’s surface and the first signs of this are discoloured patches. Areas affected by the disease lose feeling. Imagine cooking over an open fire and not noticing a pot burning your hand. Or working in the field, walking over stones which cut into your feet, but you feel no pain.

Without treatment, leprosy damages the large nerves in the elbow, wrist, knee, and ankle. This causes loss of feeling in hands and feet and muscle paralysis, which results in fingers bending into the palm like a ‘claw’, and difficulty moving the ankle and toes upwards when walking.

Everyday activities become extremely dangerous. Burns and cuts ulcerate, and often become infected. This can result in the shortening of fingers and toes, leading to amputation in many cases.

If that wasn’t bad enough, leprosy can also attack the facial nerves that tell eyelid muscles to blink. If you can’t blink, you can’t get dirt out of your eyes and this can cause blindness.

Leprosy affects every area of a person's life. If you can’t grip a tool, hold a hot cooking pot, push a rickshaw, or use your fingers to plant vegetables, you can’t work. No work means no food. It’s that simple. Your whole family suffers, and poverty just gets worse and worse.  

So why don’t people with leprosy just take the antibiotics?

In the UK when we have symptoms we can’t explain we usually visit our doctor for help. It’s unlikely that fear of being rejected by our family and friends would keep us suffering in silence. But that is exactly what happens in India. 

There are lots of myths and superstitious beliefs about what causes leprosy. Lack of understanding means that people think this disease is a curse from the gods for sins committed in a former life. There is so much fear surrounding leprosy that people with the disease are often thrown out of their families and villages. It’s not surprising that some people hide the fact that they have leprosy for as long as they possibly can, terrified of losing all they hold dear. 

What is HIV?

H – Human – This virus can only infect humans.

I – Immunodeficiency – HIV weakens the immune system by killing the cells that fight disease and infection. 

V – Virus – A virus can only reproduce itself by taking over a cell in the body of its host.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a lot like other viruses, such as those that cause the common cold. But there is an important difference. Over time, your immune system can clear most viruses from your body, but the human immune system can't fight HIV. We still don’t know the reason for this.

We do know that HIV can hide for long periods of time in the cells of your body and that it attacks a key part of your immune system –  T-cells or CD4 cells. Your body needs these cells to fight infections and disease, but HIV invades them, uses them to make more copies of itself, and then destroys them.

Over time, HIV can destroy so many CD4 cells that your body can't fight infections and diseases anymore. When that happens, HIV infection can lead to AIDS.

What is AIDS?

A – Acquired – AIDS is not passed through genes. You acquire AIDS after birth.

I – Immuno – Your body's immune system includes all the organs and cells that work to fight off infection or disease.

D – Deficiency – You get AIDS when your immune system is weakened from HIV.

S – Syndrome – A syndrome is a collection of symptoms and signs of disease. AIDS is a syndrome, rather than a single disease, because it is a complex illness with a wide range of complications and symptoms.

People with healthy immune systems can be exposed to certain viruses, bacteria, or parasites and have no reaction to them. If you have HIV/AIDS, you face serious health threats from what are known as opportunistic infections. These infections are called ‘opportunistic’ because they take advantage of a weakened immune system, and can cause devastating illnesses and death. In India, most opportunistic infections are precipitated by starvation.

HIV can be controlled by antiretroviral therapy (ART); this is a life-long treatment. But what if you are too weak to travel to a health clinic, or too poor to pay for the drugs? If you live hand-to-mouth and you regularly take time off to travel a long distance to the nearest medical centre, your children will go hungry. If you are able to get antiretroviral drugs but can’t afford nutritious food, the drugs are ineffective. This is the reality for people living in poverty, and why Brighter Future is working to help people with HIV.