Malappuram tops in leprosy infection

MALAPPURAM: Despite making enormous strides in leprosy eradication over the past two decades, the Malappuram district still tops the list of disease detection in the state with 55 confirmed cases from April to December. According to the recent state-level review, this was the highest among districts. Thiruvananthapuram comes second on the list, said K. Soman, assistant leprosy officer, Malappuram, and 39 of the cases were multibacillary leprosy (MB) which is the highly transmissible and 16 paucibacillary (PB) leprosy.

Currently, 103 leprosy patients including ten children are undergoing treatment here. The most populous district which witnessed 3,750 cases of leprosy in 1991 had brought down the prevalence of the disease to 122 in 2011 as part of the National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP). The number had further come down to 70 in 2015-16. The prevalence of MB leprosy is a concern as it is the highly transmissible form of the disease, Mr Soman said. The tribal areas of Nilambur and coastal region were home to the majority of the leprosy cases in the district till a few years ago.

Constant awareness programmes and treatment helped to decrease the incidence of infection in these regions. However, the prevalence of the current cases are scattered across the district, authorities say. The majority of the recent cases were from Kondotty and Pulikkal areas.   District medical authorities are all set to launch a special awareness, detection and treatment drive as part of the leprosy eradication week from January 30 to February 13. Skin examination camps, special screenings for migrant labourers and other means of campaigns are part of it.