Leprosy Rev
-
Dapsone Hypersensitivity Syndrome (DHS) occurs in approximately 2% of leprosy patients in Nepal. DHS and other adverse effects of dapsone lead to withdrawal of the drug. ⋯ Rifampicin and clofazimine appear to be satisfactory treatment for both paucibacillary and multibacillary patients who have to have dapsone stopped because of severe adverse effects.
-
A 21 year old boy with borderline lepromatous leprosy and normal glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase activity developed haemolytic anaemia, hepatitis and agranulocytosis following 19 weeks of multi-bacillary multi-drug therapy. With early administration of antibiotics and G-CSF our patient recovered without residual complications. All patients taking dapsone should be warned to discontinue the drug immediately in the event of fever, chills and sore throat occurring within the treatment period until further investigations are performed.
-
To identify patients with typical symptoms of neuropathic pain in a well-defined cohort of multibacillary patients being followed up as part of a relapse study in Ethiopia; to identify risk factors for the development of neuropathic pain. ⋯ Neuropathic pain is an important problem in a proportion of people previously treated for leprosy. Further research into the management of the condition is required.
-
The CBR Guidelines are being developed by UN Agencies and civil society groups including disabled people's organisations (DPO). The aim of the CBR guidelines is to enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities including those affected by leprosy. Strong linkages between leprosy programmes and CBR will optimise the benefit of medical care and ensure leprosy-affected people access all relevant services that promote inclusion and participation. ⋯ The CBR guidelines are an important step forward in promoting CBR as a community based inclusive development strategy. The guidelines focus on meeting basic needs, reducing poverty, accessing benefits of mainstream developmental initiatives, inclusive community and empowering people with disabilities and their families. It also focuses on implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities using community-based initiatives. People with leprosy are often neglected by traditional CBR programmes. These guidelines make the case for including people with leprosy in CBR programmes and in the community.
-
Although Community Based Rehabilitation has now formally existed for almost 30 years, few papers have been written about the results of this approach. The authors hope to contribute with this paper towards methodologies that will help to measure results of Community Based Rehabilitation programmes. The importance of establishing--prior to the development of Community Based Rehabilitation--an extensive baseline has not been extensively covered as the importance of it is almost self-evident; yet the lack of baseline data often severely hampers the possibility of being able to measure the effects of Community Based Rehabilitation. ⋯ Four key areas for measuring CBR are highlighted: people, power, public society and partnerships. Finally, a tool is presented in order to evaluate (or monitoring and evaluation) systematically. What gets measured gets done; If you don't measure results, you can't tell success from failure; If you can't see success, you can't reward it; If you can't reward success, you're probably rewarding failure; If you can't see success, you can't learn from it; If you can't recognize failure, you can't correct it; If you can demonstrate results, you can win public support.