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Definition: Hansen's Disease |
Hansen's DiseaseNoun1. Chronic granulomatous communicable disease occurring in tropical and subtropical regions; characterized by inflamed nodules beneath the skin and wasting of body parts; caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Synonym: Hansen's DiseaseSynonym: Leprosy. (additional references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Leprosy used to be incurable, and severely disfiguring. Lepers were shunned and sequestered in "leper colonies". Now known as Hansen's disease, leprosy is easily curable by multidrug antibiotic therapy.
The main challenges for Hansen's disease elimination efforts are to reach populations that have not yet received multidrug therapy services, improve detection of the disease, and provide patients with high-quality services and free drugs.
This chronic infectious disease usually affects the skin and peripheral nerves but has a wide range of possible clinical manifestations. Patients are classified as having paucibacillary or multibacillary Hansen's disease. Paucibacillary Hansen's disease is milder and characterized by one or more hypopigmented skin macules. Multibacillary Hansen's disease is associated with symmetric skin lesions, nodules, plaques, thickened dermis, and frequent involvement of the nasal mucosa resulting in nasal congestion and epistaxis.
The cause of this disease is a bacillus, Mycobacterium leprae, that multiplies very slowly and mainly affects the skin, nerves, and mucous membranes. The organism has never been grown in bacteriologic media or cell culture, but has been grown in mouse foot pads. It is related to M. tuberculosis, the bacillus that causes tuberculosis.
Worldwide, 1-2 million persons are permanently disabled as a result of Hansen's disease. However, persons receiving antibiotic treatment or having completed treatment are considered free of active infection.
Although the mode of transmission of Hansen's disease remains uncertain, most investigators think that M. leprae is usually spread from person to person in respiratory droplets. What is known is that the transmission rate is very low.
Close contacts with patients with untreated, active, predominantly multibacillary disease, and persons living in countries with highly endemic disease.
Hansen's disease is nationally notifiable in the United States.
Incidence/prevalence has remained relatively stable in the United States. There are decreasing numbers of cases worldwide, with pockets of high prevalence in certain countries.
Hansen's disease in the Western Pacific is a particular problem and opportunities exist for participation in Hansen's disease elimination activities in endemic-disease countries, and in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
There are still a few 'leper colonies' around the world. In the United States on the tiny island of Molokai in the Hawaiian chain is the oldest leper colony in America. Government run leper colonies in Japan in 2001 came under judicial scrutiny ruling the Japanese government had mistreated the patients. Leper colonies are located in India and the Philippines, with high likelihood there are many more in many more countries.Clinical Features
Etiologic Agent
Incidence
In 1999, the world incidence of Hansen's disease was estimated to be 640,000; and in 2000, 738,284 cases were identified. In 1999, 108 cases occurred in the United States. In 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed 91 countries in which Hansen's disease is endemic, with India, Myanmar, and Nepal having 70% of cases.Sequelae
Transmission
Risk Groups
Surveillance
Trends
Opportunities
Asylums
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Hansen's disease."
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Leprosy or Hansen's Disease cannot be easily caught from someone else : You can lead a normal life.Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Patients are classified as having paucibacillary or multibacillary Hansen's disease. (references) | |
Worldwide, 1-2 million persons are permanently disabled as a result of Hansen's disease. (references) | ||
Paucibacillary Hansen's disease is milder and characterized by one or more hypopigmented skin macules. (references) | ||
Human Rights | Japan | In May the Kumamoto District Court ordered the Government to pay $15 million (1.89 billion yen) to 127 plaintiffs suffering from Hansen's Disease who were confined to remote sanatoriums under the 1953 Leprosy Prevention Law, after a cure for the disease had been developed. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Language | Translations for "Hansen's disease"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Japanese Kanji | ライ病 (leprosy). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ansen'shay iseaseday.(various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "'-a-a-d-e-e-e-h-i-n-n-s-s-s-s" | |
-4 letters: handinesses, headinesses, sandinesses, shadinesses, snidenesses. | |
-5 letters: ashinesses, easinesses, sanenesses. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)48 61 6E 73 65 6E 27 73 44 69 73 65 61 73 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001000 01100001 01101110 01110011 01100101 01101110 00100111 01110011 00100000 01000100 01101001 01110011 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)H a n s e n ' s   D i s e a s e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0048 0061 006E 0073 0065 006E 0027 0073 0044 0069 0073 0065 0061 0073 0065 |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)426780857180985238758571678571 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Images: Slideshow | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Translations: Modern 8. Anagrams | 9. Orthography 10. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
