Leprosy<\/p>\n
I was shocked reading your article (Thursday, The Jakarta
\nPost, April 27, 1995) about leprosy drugs and the immunity
\nleprosy bacilli have developed to these drugs. I do not know
\nProf. Adhi Djuanda, but I do hope that the article does not
\nreflect his opinion about this issue. It is certainly true that
\nleprosy bacilli are getting more resistant to DDS and there are a
\nfew reports of resistance to one of the other drugs as well, but
\nso far no resistance has been reported to all three drugs
\ncurrently used together.<\/p>\n
The threat of developing immunity was the reason WHO in the
\nearly 1980s advised to treat leprosy with three drugs instead of
\nDDS alone, and this treatment is used in Indonesia, at least in
\nthe government program. At present, taking the prescribed dosages
\nof these drugs over the advised period of time assures the
\npatient that he or she will become fully free of the disease. The
\nrisk of the disease recurring years after a full course of the
\ndrugs is small, as was pointed out again recently in an editorial
\nin Leprosy Review. The present combination of these three drugs
\nis far more powerful than the previous therapy of DDS alone.<\/p>\n
Besides the present three drugs, there are other drugs
\ncurrently being tested, and these tests show promising results.
\nAll this does not guarantee that in the future the gloomy picture
\ndescribed in the article will not become true, but at present it
\ncertainly is not! The best way to prevent such a thing from
\nhappening is to make sure that all leprosy patients get their
\nfull treatment on a regular basis, and this depends to a great
\nextent on how the community looks at leprosy patients, therefore
\nI fully support that part of the article.<\/p>\n
DR. F.J. MOET<\/p>\n
The Leprosy Mission<\/p>\n
International<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/leprosy-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }