Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae or Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damage may result in a lack of ability to feel pain, which can lead to the loss of parts of a person's extremities from repeated injuries or infection through unnoticed wounds. An infected person may also experience muscle weakness and poor eyesight. Leprosy symptoms may begin within one year, but, for some people, symptoms may take 20 years or more to occur.
Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen was a Norwegian physician, remembered for his identification of the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae in 1873 as the causative agent of leprosy. His distinguished work was recognized at the International Leprosy Congress held at Bergen in 1909.
Mycobacterium is a genus of over 190 species in the phylum Actinomycetota, assigned its own family, Mycobacteriaceae. This genus includes pathogens known to cause serious diseases in mammals, including tuberculosis and leprosy in humans. The Greek prefix myco- means 'fungus', alluding to this genus' mold-like colony surfaces. Since this genus has cell walls with a waxy lipid-rich outer layer that contains high concentrations of mycolic acid, acid-fast staining is used to emphasize their resistance to acids, compared to other cell types.
Mycobacterium leprae is one of the two species of bacteria that cause Hansen's disease (leprosy), a chronic but curable infectious disease that damages the peripheral nerves and targets the skin, eyes, nose, and muscles.
Victor Babeș was a Romanian physician, bacteriologist, academician and professor. One of the founders of modern microbiology, Victor Babeș is author of one of the first treatises of bacteriology in the world – Bacteria and their role in pathological anatomy and histology of infectious diseases, written in collaboration with French scientist Victor André Cornil in 1885. In 1888, Babeș underlies the principle of passive immunity, and a few years later enunciates the principle of antibiosis. He made early and significant contributions to the study of rabies, leprosy, diphtheria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. He also discovered more than 50 unknown germs and foresaw new methods of staining bacteria and fungi. Victor Babeș introduced rabies vaccination and founded serotherapy in Romania.
Pierre Paul Émile Roux FRS was a French physician, bacteriologist and immunologist. Roux was one of the closest collaborators of Louis Pasteur (1822–1895), a co-founder of the Pasteur Institute, and responsible for the institute's production of the anti-diphtheria serum, the first effective therapy for this disease. Additionally, he investigated cholera, chicken-cholera, rabies, and tuberculosis. Roux is regarded as a founder of the field of immunology.
Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) is a public medical university in Chandigarh, India. It is an 'Institute of National Importance'. It has educational, medical research, and training facilities for its students including all specialties, super specialties and sub specialties. It is the leading tertiary care hospital of the northern India region and caters to patients from all over Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Apart from the clinical services, PGI also provides training in almost all disciplines of medicine including post graduate and post doctoral degrees, diplomas, Doctor of Philosophy and fellowships. There are more than 50 such training courses in the institute. The 100-seat MBBS college is expected to start by 2025 at PGI's satellite centre in Sarangpur.
Dr. Hariharan Srinivasan was an Indian orthopedic surgeon who worked primarily with leprosy. He wrote under the pen name Charvakan in Tamil. He retired in 2008.
Indira Nath was an Indian immunologist. Her major contribution in medical science deals with mechanisms underlying immune unresponsiveness in man, reactions and nerve damage in leprosy and a search for markers for viability of the Leprosy bacillus. Prof. Nath's fields of specialisations are Immunology, Pathology, Medical biotechnology, and communicable diseases.
Pasteur Institute of Iran is a medical research center located in Tehran, Iran. The institute is one of the oldest leading research and public health centers in Iran and the Middle East, established in 1920 following an agreement between the Institute Pasteur of Paris and the Iranian government. The Pasteur Institute of Iran was developed with the help of a land donation from Abdol-Hossein Farmanfarma. Its mission is to support advanced research and to provide innovative programs in basic and applied medical sciences, and production of biopharmaceuticals and diagnostic kits with special emphasis on infectious diseases. It meets the specialized and scientific health demands of the local community and tries to establish a link between applied research and industry. Pasteur Institute is a leading regional facility in the development and manufacture of vaccines. The institute has a total staff of 1300 in its 28 departments and 5 branches in different cities of Iran, which are active in different areas of medical and pharmaceutical biotechnology. There are about 300 PhDs and M.Sc. graduates.
P. K. Gopal is an Indian social worker and a co-founder of International Association for Integration, Dignity and Economic Advancement (IDEA), an international advocacy group, known for his services towards eradication of leprosy, especially in India. He was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Alfredo Kanthack BA (Lond), BSc, BS, MA (Cantab), MB, MD, LRCP, FRCP, FRCS (1863-1898) was a Brazilian-born microbiologist and pathologist who worked in England. His distinguished career was cut short by his premature death at the age of 35.
Isaac Santra was an Indian physician, gandhian and social worker, known for his contributions for the eradication of Leprosy from India. The Government of India honoured him in 1956, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for his services to the nation.
Krishnaswami Srinivas Sanjivi (1903–1994) was an Indian medical doctor, Gandhian, social worker and the founder of Voluntary Health Services (VHS), a medical facility in Chennai reported to be serving the lower and middle-class people of the society. He was honoured by the Government of India in 1971 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award. Five years later, the government followed it up by awarding him the third highest civilian award of Padma Bhushan in 1976.
Claire Marie Jeanne Vellut (1926–2013) was a Belgian-born naturalised Indian leprologist, humanist and the founder of the Damien Foundation India Trust, a non profit non governmental organization engaged in providing treatment and rehabilitation services to people with leprosy and tuberculosis in India. She spent 55 years in India treating leprosy and tuberculosis patients, associating with the state and central governments or independently under the aegis of the trust she founded in 1955. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1981.
Noshir Hormasji Antia was an Indian plastic surgeon and social worker, known for his pioneering contributions to the treatment and rehabilitation of people afflicted with leprosy. He was the founder of three notable non governmental organizations, Foundation for Research in Community Health (FRCH), Foundation for Medical Research (FMR) and the National Society for Equal Opportunities for the Handicapped (NASEOH), all working in the field of rehabilitation of patients, cured or otherwise. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri in 1990.
Jacob Cherian, popularly known as Ayya, was an Indian surgeon, educationist and a social worker. He was the founder of Christian Fellowship Community Health Centre Society, a non-governmental organization under which banner he established 24 primary health centres, besides 18 other institutions in the fields of health and education. Credited with the performance of over 25,000 surgeries, Cherian was a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Glasgow, International College of Surgeons as well as of the American College of Surgeons, and a founder fellow of the Association of Surgeons of India. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, in 1999.
Omesh Kumar Bharti is a field epidemiologist from Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. In 2019, Bharti received the Padma Shri civilian honour for the pioneering work in finding an affordable cure for rabid dog bite.
Lata Desai is a medical doctor from the Indian State of Gujarat who is 1980 along with her husband Dr. Anil Desai and a few friends founded the Society for Education Welfare and Action - Rural, a voluntary organization devoted to health and development activities in the tribal area of South Gujarat.
Vijaykumar Vinayak Dongre is a medical doctor from Mumbai who has devoted his entire life for the eradication of leprosy in the urban and rural areas, including the tribal areas, in the Indian State of Maharashtra. According to some estimates, there were approximately 40 lakh leprosy patients in India in 1981, but after the efforts of Dongre and others this has come down to 83,000. Dongre is affiliated to The Society for Eradication of Leprosy, Mumbai and is serving the Society as its Honorary Secretary. Dongre was associated with Acworth Leprosy Hospital, Mumbai as the Medical Superintendent for nearly 35 years and with Gandhi Memorial Foundation, Wardha as a director for nearly 8 years.
