JCI, LAGOS METROPOLITAN- POWERPOINT PRESENTED ON WORLD LEPROSY DAY 29TH JAN 2017 We had our first General Assembly on Sunday 29th January 2017 and during the meeting we talked about the “think Leprosy Now”. Members and guests were sensitized on what Leprosy is, how it spread, signs and symptoms and the prevention. Everyone was implored to love them but not to chase them away because it is not a disease that could be contacted easily. 29/1/2017

LEPROSY Also known as Hansen Disease is a contagious disease that affects the skin and nerves causing discoloration and lumps on the skin and in severe cases disfigurement and deformities. In the 90s The World Health Organization (WHO) lunched a campaign to eliminate leprosy as a public health problem by 2000. Elimination by WHO definition, was a reduction of patients with leprosy using multi drug therapy to fewer than 1 per 10,000 population. Leprosy is caused by a germ. It is not hereditary. It is curable. The earliest sign of leprosy is a skin patch with loss of feeling. It is transmitted from one person to another by a patient who is not on treatment. Patients who are on treatment or have completed treatment are no longer a danger to the public. Treatment is available in every LGA and is free of charge. Show love and care for people affected by leprosy just as you care for the people affected by leprosy just as you care for all others who are ill. Stop the stigma and discrimination against persons affected by leprosy. Henceforth, nobody should ever be called a “leper”. A person with leprosy is a leprous patient or a person affected by leprosy. 29/1/2017

HOW DOES IT SPREAD Leprosy only causes infections in humans. The disease is probably transmitted from the lining of the nose of a person with the infection to the skin and respiratory tract of another person. Close and frequent contact is required for transmission but only a small proportion of close contacts, for example, in the same household, actually develop leprosy. A contact is any person who has been close enough to an infected person to be at risk of having acquired the infection from that person 29/1/2017

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS A person with leprosy may have symptoms across a spectrum ranging from  a form of leprosy where: there are many symmetrical lumps (nodules, papules and macules) on both sides of the body involvement of the lining of the nose causing crusting and difficulty in breathing bleeding and inflammation of the eye (keratitis and iritis). To a form of leprosy where: there are a few skin lesions with loss of feeling that are clearly marked (loss of pigment or reddish colour) there is symmetrical thickening of the nerves of the arms, legs and face on both sides of the body with loss of feeling. Complications of leprosy include permanent deformity and disability, especially of the hands, feet and face; most of which can be prevented by early treatment. Special reconstructive surgery can correct many deformities that develop. 29/1/2017

PREVENTION Exclude people with leprosy from childcare, preschool, school and work until approval to return has been given by an infectious diseases physician, dermatologist, or a SA Health Communicable Disease Control Branch doctor control is best achieved by the rapid elimination of infectivity in people with leprosy using multi-drug therapy because close and prolonged contact is required for transmission, travelers to areas where leprosy is present have a very low risk of contracting the disease. The prevention of leprosy ultimately lies in the early diagnosis and treatment of those individuals suspected or diagnosed as having leprosy, thereby preventing further transmission of the disease to others. Public education and community awareness are crucial to encourage individuals with leprosy and their families to undergo evaluation and treatment with MDT. Household contacts of patients with leprosy should be monitored closely for the development of leprosy signs and symptoms. A study demonstrated that prophylaxis with a single dose of rifampicin was 57% effective in preventing leprosy for the first two years in individuals who have close contact with newly diagnosed patients with leprosy. There is currently no widely used standard for using medications for the prevention of leprosy. Currently, there is no single commercial vaccine that confers complete immunity against leprosy in all individuals. Several vaccines, including the BCG vaccine, provide variable levels of protection against leprosy in certain populations. 29/1/2017

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PICTURES OF SPEAKER AND CROSS SECTION OF MEMBERS DURING THE THINK LEPROPSY NOW CAMPAIGN 29/1/2017

PICTURES OF SOME AFFECTED PARTS OF THE BODY 29/1/2017