The Treatment of Leprosy

As a bacterial infection, leprosy can be very effectively treated with certain antibiotics; the bacillus can be easily killed. If there has already been damage to the nerves, however, antibiotics alone will not restore function and other forms of treatment will be needed, including physiotherapy.

The first antibiotic to be widely used for leprosy was dapsone , from around 1950 onwards. Dapsone meant a major breakthrough for millions of patients who, until then, had been considered incurable. However, many patients still had to take medicines for life.

In 1981, when resistance to dapsone was becoming widespread, WHO introduced Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT) which consisted of two regimens: rifampicin and dapsone for PB leprosy and rifampicin , clofazimine and dapsone for MB leprosy. (Note: rifampicin is also known as rifampin, especially in the USA). MDT has been remarkably successful: there have been very few side effects associated with its use and over 13 million people have been cured of leprosy following its introduction.

A useful and detailed review article of leprosy treatment is available. See also the ILEP Learning Guide One (526KB).