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Article: Operational barriers to the implementation of multidrug therapy and leprosy elimination in Cameroon
- Article from:
- Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology
- Article date:
- September 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd. Sep/Oct 2009. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Introduction
In 1980, the drug of choice for leprosy treatment was dapsone but because of widespread resistance, treatment became increasingly ineffective. Also, treatment was life-long, which discouraged the patients. [1]
Multidrug therapy (MDT) is a combination of three drugs for multibacillary leprosy and two drugs for paucibacillary cases. [1],[2] MDT enjoys a high degree of patient acceptability, with very low relapse rates following completion of treatment. Compliance is high because of the fixed and relatively short duration of treatment, low frequencies of side-effects, cost-effectiveness and definitive cure in the patient. [3],[4],[5],[6] Despite all these advantages, challenges ...