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Article: Simplified treatment for leprosy.
- Article from:
- UN Chronicle
- Article date:
- September 22, 1997
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 United Nations Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Multidrug therapy (MDT)--the combination of three powerful anti-leprosy drugs--has now successfully cured more than 8.4 million sufferers since 1981, and the global strategy to eliminate the disease, which is based on MDT, is working extremely well. Consequently, the Seventh Expert Committee on Leprosy, which met at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva from 26 May to 3 June, considered that, for a special class of early paucibacillary or PB leprosy--where patients have only one skin lesion--a single dose of three drugs in combination is sufficient to bring about a cure. The Committee also agreed on the possibility of shortening the treatment ...