Understand the process of how leprosy damages the human body

Leprosy is a disease that attacks the peripheral nerves, skin, eyes and bones if not treated immediately. In fact, leprosy can be cured if the patient immediately takes medication and routinely undergoes treatment completely. Otherwise, it will likely result in incurable disability. How does leprosy damage the body of the sufferer? Check out the following reviews.

How does leprosy damage the peripheral nerves and skin?

Reporting from the International Book of Leprosy, M. Lepra are the only bacteria that infect the peripheral nervous system. Most of the leprosy germs reside in Schwann cells for leprosy to survive, divide and seed in Schwann cells.

These germs select cooler temperature areas in the body to multiply and the associated inflammatory cells are located around the nerve trunks that are near the skin. As a result, the skin becomes numb or loses its tactile function.

In addition, other signs of inflammation appear, namely lesions. A lesion is a discoloration of the skin that is lighter than the surrounding area. These lesions are slightly red in color, swollen, and feel tender.

Other signs of inflammation of the peripheral nerves include loss of muscle function (muscle paralysis) and anhidrosis, which is the inability of the body to sweat normally, causing thin cracks in the epidermis or epithelium. It can also dry out the nose because there is no liquid (snot) that functions to moisturize.

The places where nerve damage occurs in leprosy is usually the hands, feet and eyes, namely the following nerves.

• Facial, attacking the nerve of the eyelid so that the eye cannot be closed
• Auricular magnus, attacks the area behind the ears and jaw so that it is numb
• Ulnar, attacking the little finger and ring finger so that it loses the ability to move
• Medianus, attacking the thumb, index finger and middle finger so that it loses the ability to move
• Radialis, attacks the wrist so that it loses the ability to move
• Peroneus communis, attacks the ankle so that it loses the ability to move
• Posterior tibialis, attacks the nerves of the toes so that they lose the ability to move

After attacking the nerves, the bones will also become infected, causing deformities or deformities in the bones, such as the saddle nose. Wounds and edema (swelling), which are open wounds that may be difficult to heal, can increase the risk of amputation of parts of the body that have been damaged by the wound.

If leprosy damages the peripheral nerves it can attack the eye

The course of eye disease in leprosy patients occurs in two types of leprosy, namely tuberculoid and lepromatous. Tuberculoid leprosy is characterized by the appearance of large lesions and numbness, while lepromatous leprosy (the most severe leprosy) is characterized by the appearance of many lesions.

Eye disorders in leprosy can cause changes in the eyelids due to disorders of the nerves and muscles of the eyelids, lacrimal glands, abnormalities in the cornea, and damage to the iris.

Leprosy occurs when the macrophages (white blood cells) weaken and are unable to destroy the leprosy germs so that the germs can divide and eventually damage the tissue. The formation of many leprosy germs in the tissue is also influenced by the ability of germs to adapt to body temperature, virulence (germs malignancy), and the proliferation of leprosy germs.

There are four ways leprosy germs cause damage to the eye, namely:

• Leprosy germs infiltrate and directly attack the eyes or eyelids (infiltration)
• Direct infection of leprosy germs on the trigeminal nerve and facial nerve (exposure)
• Inflammation secondary to the eye due to infiltration
• Secondary complications due to infection of germs around the eye

There are different eye complaints in leprosy patients. For example, the eyes are excessively watery at first, but will dry out (keratitis), the eyes burn when you wake up in the morning, and the eyes cannot be closed (lagoftlamus). Leprosy can also cause iritis (inflammation of the iris), glaucoma, cataracts, eyebrows and eyelashes, and ends in blindness.