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Health & Medicine
Mahesh

02/07/22 22:49 PM IST

Shortage of Leprosy Drugs

In News 
  • Clofazimine, a key drug for treatment of leprosy, which had been in short supply in the Indian market for several months, is now “not available”, with the situation turning into a crisis over the past three months.
Clofazimine
  • Clofazimine is one of the three essential drugs in the MultiDrug Treatment of Multibacillary Leprosy (MBMDT) cases, along with Rifampicin and Dapsone.
  • It is needed not just for the therapy/cure of leprosy, but also for controlling acute exacerbations of this disease.
  • Clofazimine has shown activity against MultiDrug Resistance Tuberculosis and has been recommended by the WHO to treat drug resistance.
  • Under the NLEP (National Leprosy EradicationProgramme), the government has been ensuring a steady supply of monthly blister packs for 12 months to all the multibacillary leprosy cases containing these three drugs.
Leprosy 
  • Leprosy is also known as Hansen’s Disease.
  • Leprosy is a chronic, progressive bacterial infection caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium Leprae, which is an acid-fast rod-shaped bacillus.
  • Leprosy is one of the oldest diseases in recorded history, afflicting humanity since time immemorial. A written account of Leprosy dates as far back as 600 B.C.
  • According to the World Health Organization (WHO), leprosy is endemic in several States and Union Territories of India, with an annual case detection rate of 4.56 per 10,000 population.
  • The prevalence rate of leprosy is 0.4 per 10,000 population in the country
Source- The Hindu 

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