Scientists are still not 100 percent sure how leprosy is transmitted and there is a lot research being conducted to find out exactly how it happens. In The Leprosy Mission, our teams in Bangladesh, India and Nepal are all working on transmission studies.
Most scientists believe that leprosy is caught through droplets of moisture passing through the air from an infectious person who has leprosy, but has not been treated with multi-drug therapy (MDT). Only 1 in 10 of people affected by leprosy are infectious.
Leprosy is a mildly infectious disease. This means that it is rare to catch the disease after a brief encounter with an infectious person. People are most at risk of catching leprosy if they spend prolonged periods of time with an infectious person within a confined space. For example, if they spend a long time in a small room with that person.
However, even if you live with a person who is affected by leprosy and is infectious (has not received treatment) your risk of contracting the disease is low. Recent research by our team in Bangladesh showed that, over the course of a year, no more than 13 out of every 1,000 people who lived with a person affected by leprosy was diagnosed with the disease themselves.
For anyone who is worried about infection because they live in a community with recent cases of leprosy (primarily in Asia, Africa, and Latin America), all they need to do is keep an eye out for the signs and symptoms of the disease, and then get treatment, which is free and effective.
Credit : Leprosy Mission
Picture Credit : Google
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