Therapeutic regimens in leprosy.

Insight into the bacteriology, general pathology, pharmacology of the treatment of leprosy has increased most significantly during the last 30 years, through numerous studies, starting with the demonstration by Shepard, of the multiplication of Mycobacterium leprae in the mouse foot pad. Our studies showed that the treatment of the disease can be considerably shortened. The introduction of more drugs, highly bactericidal for M. leprae, provided toxicity and antagonism do not constitute a problem, can only improve the results in terms of length of treatment and absence of relapses. Only when the public realizes that leprosy can indeed be treated "like any other disease" will the fear for it decrease, will patients show up in earlier stages of the disease, will transmission and endemicity decline and will a situation be reached comparable to that of tuberculosis in the western world. In the meantime there is an increasing need for better understanding, prevention and treatment of the complications of the disease: reversal reactions and erythema nodosum leprosum. In endemic regions there will remain for some time to come a great need for rehabilitation activities.