During this 2023 in Guanajuato, 24 cases of leprosy have been identified, of which seven are in treatment and 17 in remission, according to the Secretary of Health of Guanajuato, Daniel Alberto Díaz Martínez.
He specified that in the case of the seven that are in treatment, two of them are in the municipality of Irapuato, two more in Celaya, one in the municipality of Jerécuaro, one in San José Iturbide and another in the municipality of Salvatierra.
“When a suspicious case is detected, the main thing is that they go to our Health Center immediately to make the assessment and the corresponding studies, and training is constantly being given to all the doctors in the health center,” he indicated.
The Secretary of Health of Guanajuato announced that leprosy is completely curable and does not represent an alarm situation, since historically there have always been cases in the entity.
He added that the Guanajuato Health System has the capacity to care for patients diagnosed with leprosy, and he said that today a person with a fully functional diagnosis and each Health Jurisdiction has its census of patients to provide them with treatment, in addition, training for health personnel is implemented in the identification of patients in a timely manner.
“Leprosy continues to exist in a country like ours, before it was said and to date it is what the books say that it is associated with economic and even nutritional conditions,” he said.
He asserted that in Guanajuato the medicine exists so that no one is left without care, in addition to a comprehensive preventive program for the care of suspected cases, as part of an intentional search as in other types of diseases such as tuberculosis.
In this regard, the director of Public Health, Pablo Sánchez Gastelum explained that this 2023 in Guanajuato they are monitoring 24 cases.
“For us it is not only the patient we are caring for, but also their environment, that is, the people who live with them are the ones we must be caring for because Leprosy, unlike other diseases that quickly presents fever or has some other situation, Leprosy, for example, sometimes starts with hypochromic spots on the hand and people don’t feel it, so when we are permanently monitoring this, we realize and act if someone in the family is starting with a similar condition”, he stated.
What is leprosy?
According to the federal government, leprosy is an infectious disease caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium Leprae, which mainly affects the skin; however, it can damage other tissues.
How Leprosy is transmitted
In order to acquire the infection, a healthy person is required to be susceptible to acquiring and developing the disease, in addition to close and prolonged coexistence with a person who is ill with leprosy and without treatment, who removes or expels bacteria when speaking, coughing or breathing and who the healthy person is close to it.
Source: Milenio
