Leprosy in Northern India

Abstract

I had a brief study on the occupation of the leprosy patients treated in Ghatampur and Etawah clinics which were established by JALMA in the rural area of Uttar Pradesh State, India. The purpose of the study was to analyze the occupation of L-type leprosy patients in the local society and to discuss the possibility of them as the important source of leprosy infection.The number of the patients who were consulted for the study was 5, 573 (male 4, 632 and female 941) including newly registered patients then. The data were collected in the months of May and June of 1967. The patients were divided into four groups; male adult, female adult, boy and girl groups (both under 14 years old).In the group of male adult, farmer occupied over 60% and labourer showed 16.6% which contained some percentages of the agricultural labourer. After all, over 70% of the male adult patients were agricultural workers. The high percentage of them would be due to the situation of the clinics which were opened in the agricultural areas.In the group of female adult, about one third of them were agricultural workers. A large number of the patients were occupied in the house holding works.In the boy group, 57% was student or school pupil and about one third had various occupations including 18% farmer and 7% labourer.In the girl group, student or school girl was only 23% and 50% was doing house holding works. The percentage of reading girls was much lower than it of the boys.Sixty percents of lepromatous patients in male group were farmers and 18.5% were labourers. In female adult group, a large number of lepromatous cases were occupied in house holding.The person who may or must have a frequent and repeated contact with the people of the local society is shop-keeper or shop-master, greengrocer, tailor, barber, washer man and so on in village bazar and private servant, sweeper, aya (nursemaid) in home. The following person may have a fairly important contact with children; school teacher, driver of riksha, tanga or yukka by which a good number of children (especially more younger children) are going to school or kindergarten every day. These persons may give an important influence to children and babies from the point of the contageous infection of leprosy. Some of male lepromatous patients were occupied in these works in the society.To decrease the infection of leprosy in the society, the enough treatment must be given to the lepromatous patients occupied in the above mentioned works especially in the early stage of the disease.Further, to find out the disease as early as possible, the knowledge about the early signs of leprosy must be given to people of the local society through the public health education and only the repeated efforts in it will lead us to the early dignosis and early treatment' of leprosy.