Waking up to the increasing leprosy threat in the country, the Government is mulling a preventive treatment for contact persons of newly diagnosed patients to decrease their risk of developing the crippling disease.
The Union Health Ministry’s decision comes in the wake of a successful outcome from its similar initiative in high-endemic Dadar and Nagar Haveli Union Territory wherein the household, neighbours and social contacts of the leprosy patients were administered Single Dose of Rifampicin (SDR) drug as a preventive measure.
“Considering the success of chemoprophylaxis, in reducing number of new cases, using single dose of Rifampicin in contacts of leprosy cases, in Bangladesh and Indonesia, we attempted similar approach in Dadar & Nagar Haveli, a high-endemic zone,” a senior official from the National leprosy Elimination Programme (NlEP) said.
The leprosy Post Exposure Prophylaxis (lPEP) Project was launched in collaboration with the NlEP of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Gujarat, German leprosy and TB Relief Association (GlRA) and Netherlands leprosy Relief (NlR) with support from Novartis Foundation Switzerland.
The aim was to test the operational feasibility and administration of a single dose of rifampicin, as chemoprophylaxis to household, neighbours and social contacts, and to observe the impact.
About 11,632 contacts were examined and after exclusion, single dose of rifampicin (SDR) was given to 10,518 contacts. Children less than two years, pregnant women and those found suspected of tuberculosis were excluded. There was no adverse reaction reported from the contacts receiving SDR.
Encouraged by the positive response, the technical resource group of the NlEP has recommended administering the SDR to all the contacts of the leprosy patients across the country. The Ministry will soon formulate a strategy in this regard.
“Overall, though there are 137 districts in the country which are on the priority list and where we are witnessing a rise in leprosy cases, 50 districts need immediate attention. These districts have a prevalence rate of more than one case per 10,000. Also, cases of children suffering from the disease are coming up from various areas,” the official added.
The 50 districts are in Odisha, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. The Ministry has also kicked off a vigorous campaign with the help of ASHA workers to detect the cases and ensure treatment accordingly.